ABC Challenge: Q is for Quilted

Howdy, all!  I'm less than excited about my ABC post this week, but I'm putting it up anyway.  I own approximately 500 bottles of nail polish and not a single one starts with a 'Q'!  Not a one!  Somehow, this letter kind of snuck up on me (even though I do, in fact, know the alphabet) and I didn't have time to track down a new polish with a 'Q' so I'm hoping some of the other ladies come up with some good ones.

Anyway, I decided to take a whack at quilted nails.  I've seen a few folks do some really cute ones and it didn't look too complicated so I thought, "what the heck!".  "Heck", indeed!  There are a couple of ways to do the quilted look.  The first involves striping tape, of which I have none, so I decided to try the second.  Basically, you apply your polish in 2 or more coats, what for it to set but not dry completely and then press diagonal lines into it.  You're left with dents (on purpose for once) that form a quilting grid on your nails.  You can then add your studs or dots or whatever you like where the lines cross.

Here's how mine looked:

I used 2 coats of Orly Blue Suede, a "leather" finish polish in navy.  To press the lines in, I just used a piece of stringing floss from my jewelry stash.  In hindsight, using something that has a texture on it to press straight lines probably wasn't the best idea.  My lines look really messy and uneven.  For the studs, I used some little silver bits I got in one of Cina's holiday gem wheels.

I think the technique has promise, I just don't like this particular manicure.  Blue Suede just glopped things up, so maybe a different polish would work better.  With 'Q' being such a problem letter, I'm interested to see if anyone else does quilted nails.  I'm sure theirs will look light-years better than mine!

Please take a few minutes to check out the other gals in the ABC Challenge, you can find them via the thumbnails below.  Thanks for reading!

Milani Texture: Purple Streak

Howdy, everyone!  Trying to get back in the swing of posting more regularly again.  Time is my enemy!  I'm hoping that, come the beginning of April when I'm down to just one job, I'll have some extra free time to share posts with you all. 

In any case, tonight I have a fun polish to show you.  Those of you in the blogosphere have, no doubt, heard of the new Texture line from Milani.  These polishes are similar to the Liquid Sand line by O.P.I. but don't have the glitter so there's no sparkle.  That doesn't mean they aren't pretty darn cool anyway.  I've been eying them at Walgreen's for a week or so and finally decided I had to try one.  For $3.99, even if I hated it, I wouldn't break the bank.

I wasn't sure I'd like these when I first heard about them.  The finish reminds me of nothing so much as avocado skin.  Since trying this one, called Purple Streak, I've pretty much decided I need all of them, preferably as soon as possible!  I'm not sure what it is that's so interesting about this finish, but I love it!   

The color is fabulous, a deep purple with red undertones and the formula was easy to work with and dried quickly to a matte finish.  I used 2 coats in all of these photos and felt that was plenty for good coverage. 
 

Every once in awhile my camera surprises me and the above macro shot is one of those times.  You can really get a sense of the texture in this photo.  Nifty, no?  :)
 

What do you think?  Have you tried Milani's Texture polishes yet?  

Thanks so much for reading!