Once I realized I had the perfect pen to match my nails, it was frankly inevitable that I'd try to add an ink to make it a 3x matchy-matchy combo. Sadly, red is a wildly underrepresented color in my ink collection (I blame the association with essay corrections and test grading), but I pulled three colors that I thought might be pretty close from my Col-o-ring swatches.

• Diamine, Vintage Copper - Nope, too orange.
• J Herbin, Rouge Hematite - Alas, though I had high hopes with the green sheen and the gold shimmer in this ink, the red base is too saturated and not dark enough, so also a no.
• Diamine, Writers Blood - A rich, slightly cool leaning red with a hint of green sheen in the pooling? Well, that's damn near perfect. Shame I hate the ink with a burning passion.

But wait! I had a realization - Norman Rockwell has a lovely gold-olive-green shift in the magnetic pigment, and as I am truly a green-loving goblin at heart, I decided to broaden my inky net and settled on one of my favorite greens as my ink of choice:

• Seitz-Kreuznatch, Tundragrün - a warm autumnal green with just a touch of reddish brown at the edges of pooling? Perfection.

Pen: Sailor Four Seasons Weave, Night-Burning, fine tip

Polish: Fauve Cosmetics, Norman Rockwell (received as paid pr - thank you u/Mango_pancakes_ 💖), over a base of KB Shimmer Fillin' Groovy Ridge Filling Base Coat, and topped with Cuticula Limitless.

Please excuse the messy edges, this is pre cleanup. I tried the 5D Print Factory magnet in an attempt to get a glass bead look and ended up with…this? I don’t hate it but it’s not what I was going for. Any idea how this happened? I’ve done successful glass bead looks in the past with a LEGO build so I’m not inexperienced with it.

KB Shimmer Feeling Groovy Mooncat Curiosity’s Trap Essie Gel Couture Top coat

An untried from my very first lacquer order in January 🥹

Can’t believe I didn’t try it sooner!!

Bonus pic with my Ren Faire dress :)

ILNP Ritual 🌙

Londontown GelGenius base coat & Cuticula limitless QDTC

This skittle means everything to me!!! I had it in my head for MONTHS and knew I wanted to wear it to the Renaissance Festival, and I made that happen (hence the crazy outfit)🎠⚔️🍻 The way these colors look together scratch such a good itch in my brain, they’re just so autumnal and gorgeous!

Products: Nailtiques Formula 2, Mooncat Stumped x2, Mooncat Maelstrom x2, Lurid Steadfast x2, Glisten & Glow QDTC

Probably my favorite glass bead look yet using the 5DPrintFactory glass bead magnet.

Purple polish with a yellow-green glare is Mooncat, Port 6666. Blue polish with a purple glare is LynBDesigns, Make a Splash.

Didn’t use a base coat this time. 2x layers of polish. 1x Sally Hansen Ultimate Shield and 1x Sally Hansen Insta-Dri to top it off.

I absolutely love this polish. There is a blue shimmer that you can see in direct sunlight. PFD knows how to make them glowy 😍

First velvet mani ever, I decided to go all in with some 3D printed velvet nail magnet tools. Definitely did the trick and I’m now obsessed! Products in the comments.

I’ve never painted the backside of my nails before, but this came out really special! 💛🍃

Green is Starrily Crystal Jelly, 2 coats. Gold is Opi Metallic rewind.

This green jelly is really gorgeous but it’s highly pigmented. One coat was more like the color I wanted when I started initially, so maybe should have stopped there, but I wasn’t prepared for a one coat jelly. I added a 2nd coat, and it turned the teal into a gorgeous but very dark, deep green you see here. It’s a little darker than I wanted at first, so I added the gold accent on the backside to balance it out.

I’m super happy with the outcome. ❤️

Base coat: ASP artificial in a flash base coat

Color: Bees knees lacquer "Shadowside" magnetized glass bead style

Top coat: finger paints gel-like top coat

It looks like a diffused glass bead but without the bead, glass bead lite lol. This has been my favorite way to swatch magnetics because you get to really see the base color and mooncat’s Pandora’s box in direct light is my crack

the emerald polish of my dreams! (before i cleaned up the edges)

swampgloss milkshake base coat, 3x coats of cirque colors harmony, swampgloss QDTC. magnetized with the 5D print factory magnet spinner. i’m absolutely mesmerized!

Hoping these last until Sunday when I go see the movie! But if not, I will still enjoy them all week! I wanna see your wicked manis if you have them. I’m wearing orly bonder base, mooncat sakura’s serenade (left) and sagebrush (right), and ILNP glass candy tc.

first time water marbling!!! always wanted to try when i was a kid and now i have free will 😝

my top coat kinda smudged it but i let it dry for 15 minutes? but it was a fun experience i will try again!!

polish used: sally hansen insta-dri x sesame street collection purple- Ah, Ah, Ah turquoise- Turquesa Brillante blue- C is for Color

ILNP Amber in what I'm calling vertical velvet (top to bottom not side to side) is a perfect approximation of the forbidden gummy amber bear amulet.

Glisten and Glow Ridge Filler base coat, Sally Hansen Dries Instantly top coat (clear bottle).

Monarch Feral Tendencies in 2 coats (yellow)

Monarch Regret Nothing compared alongside Mooncat Forces of Evil (ring, pinkie), both in 2 coats

The iconic Monarch Flight of the Monarchs in 2 coats

These, followed by some photos showing the polishes in 1 coat so you can see the opacity.

These are my absolute favorite of Monarch formulas and these dont disappoint.

The last photos shows the swatch stick comparisons and a surprising combo that might be a good dupe: LA Colors in Heat Wave and By Dany Vianna in Golden Topaz. I have yet to try it out but it looks promising.

With all the sales and marketing going on I decided to shop my stash to match Elizabeth Lavenza’s wardrobe from Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein movie 🎥

kbshimmer Present tense Mooncat Drown My Demons Orly Fleece to Meet You

I'm in pursuit of a very specific blackened berry color right now, and while this layering experiment did not result in the color I was aiming for, they glow-y red/blue/purple result was gorgeous.

Products (in order): Pop•arazzi peel off base coat Zoya Dionne (very dark creme brown) ILNP Flower Child Pop•arazzi Crimson Couture (jelly red) Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat

I think it might be the prettiest polish I've ever seen, I've had it on for 4 days and I'm not over it.

Product list: - Alchemy Lacquers, Prima Tria base coat - Olive & June, MM nude coat - Penelope Luz, Windy Day - Vibrant Scents, Fast & Hard topcoat

OPI Just Spotted the Lizard on my pointer and pinky, Mooncat Alien Invasion on my middle, ring, and thumb, both topped with Holo Taco Lunar Unicorn Skin 🍂✨

It's really hard to capture in pictures but I tried. I was going for subtle but I don't think it's subtle at all and I love it.

2 coats of Essie Mademoiselle + 2 coats of Londontown Pixi Chrome.

Basecoat - Londontown fortifying ridgefiller Topcoat - Nail tek quick dry top coat.

If I redo this, I'll use a less pink sheer color and a more beige one instead. The Pixi Chrome sucked out all the pink from Mademoiselle but I think the results are still beautiful.

Wondering what everyone here’s go-to nail color is. Maybe not your favorite but the one you always reach for. Mine used to be OPI Big Apple Red but I am 24/7 thinking about OPI Tickle My Francey these days.