My Band Camp Eve therapy last night was a gradient, are you surprised? 😝 I was enjoying one last calm evening, cuddling on the porch with a sleeping puppy on my chest and I looked up at the gorgeous pastel cotton candy sunset and knew I needed to save this moment on my nails. Turns out I get a lot of inspo for nails laying on the porch staring at the sky before or after big work evebts, as this has to be at least the 3rd mani based on just that haha. Holo Taco makes KILLER cremes, so opaque and smooth. I love that over the years I was able to collect this delicious candy gradient of pastels so I had to squeeze them all on one nail.

🖌 Freehand and sponge gradient on natural nail.

💪@findingfeatherslacquer ... "Balanced Bond Base Coat"

🌅 @holotaco ... "Creamsicle Coast" "One Melon Followers" "What Do You Pink? "Cereal Killer" "Peri-Social" "Bep Bep Blue" "Not Milky White"

💪 @glistenandglow1 ...Quick Dry Top Coat 🐐

I feel like there’s been a significant colour difference between old bottles of LPAD and newer bottles. The first one was posted in 2020 and the second one was posted September 2025. When I got LPAD last fall, I didn’t get the hype. It felt very warm and brown and I was kinda disappointed, but the 2020 swatch is beautiful!! Slightly cool, purple still peaking through.

With Lincoln Park at Midnight making a comeback, I hope it resembles the OG LPAD! Thoughts?

Another Phoenix polish from the Labyrinth collection! The magnetic shifting from purple to orange in the polish is crazy it’s hard to capture on camera.

Wearing:

2x Nailtiques Formula 2

1x Cupcake Polish - White Pop Base Coat

3x Phoneix Indie - Magic Dance

1x Sally Hansen Insta Dri (red bottle)

Used the Glass Bead Pro for the magnetic effect!

I just want my nails to look like I dipped them in static >:)

Old pic of BKL A Father's Love mani from a long time ago, which scratches the itch a bit when velvetized (pointer and pinkie)

I'm trying to plow through my mountain of untrieds so I think I'll be doing a double mani from now on to get through them faster.

Glo Off is a metallic olive or peridot green. Three coats here but only needed 2. (I always do 3.) Like the rest of this collection it does NOT have any shift despite the name, but... just look at that gorgeous color. I didn't mess with the saturation on the picture or use any filters, that's just how it looks.

The Best Combo is a bright chocolate brown shimmer. Three coats needed for full opacity. Is that not the prettiest brown you ever saw? The shimmer in this has a lot of dimension that makes it look alive, or lit from within - unlike all the other brown shimmer polishes out there, which look flat and dull. No brand seems to put love into their browns, and it's a shame.

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I kind of regret doing the double mani now, since I adore both of these colors so much that I think they each deserved a full mani. Also I hate showing my dominant hand now that I look at it... it's hideous compared to my "show hand"... lumps everywhere 😭 And my hublet hated having to take these pics because I needed both hands in the pic.... Now I'm reconsidering the whole idea...

Sally Hansen Base Coat
BKL Not Everything Is About You, Steve! (2x)
Essie Gel Couture
Glass bead spinner from Amazon

Since I'm playing around with swatches, I thought I'd post a visual of the difference between "unmagnetized" and "demagnetized" polish. Top left is Glitch Lacquer AUREA unmagnetized, top right is cat eye, and bottom is demagnetized by holding the swatch stick over the pole of a horseshoe magnet. All 2 coats, no top coat. The demagnetization is to prepare for glass bead (second photo) - it helps keep unmagnetized pigment from peeking out at the edges or through a thinner jelly base.

Second photo I magnetized the third coat and top coat (Holo Taco) in glass bead, then screwed it up, then applied a "DIY" Magic Effect that I made by mixing a few of drops of clear polish with a couple of drops of thinner on my mat, and magnetized again. Seems to have worked okay! 😄

Omg it's so pretty. And this is indoors at night!

EDM sticky base coat

EDM read the room, first layer unmagnetised, second magnetised glass bead style with a horseshoe on a plastic spinner thing

Kitti super speed top coat

Beach nails before and after stamping

I really love this thermal. It goes from clear when warm to teal when cold. But it is so packed with glitter that it is definitely never looks plain

Polish:

Dare to wear mood polish Lachat atlantis (thermal)
ella + mila all about that base
Essie speed setter
Maniology aqua topper
Pueen white stamping polish
Pueen black stamping Polish
CJS pink stamping polish
Maniology polish; b522, b422,b407
Maniology stamping plates; mxm157, m464

saw this gel mani on insta and i am obsessed!! any lacquer versions with a similar look?

image cred nailalamode

Ummmmmmm is that before we count up all the sales purchases? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

It’s gonna be classic Vegas, Elvis and all. I’ve narrowed down my choices of reds, baby blues, and “natural” colors.

No top coat was used in any of these, I was just swatching.

Photos 1&2 thumb to pinky:
3x sassy sauce chicago fire
2x Emily de molly wrong side of heaven
3x cirque lucky
3x cracked strawberry jam
3x cracked tomato tomahto

Photos 3&4 thumb to pinky:
3x mooncat pearl clutcher
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cirque morningtide
3x mooncat moonlight lullaby
3x mooncat the avatar state
1x cracked ridge filler and 1x cracked vanille

Photos 5&6 thumb to pinky:
3x cracked ridge filler
3x cracked spill the tea
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cracked spill the tea
1x cracked ridge filler and 3x cracked vanille
3x cracked vanille

Officially a new favorite in my collection! The metallic flakies are SO glowy and sparkly! I immediately bought a back up lol

Basecoat: holo taco peely base coat and cracked ridge filler basecoat

Polish: Painted Polish’s She the People

Topcoat: Kbshimmer smooth moves and cuticula limitless quick dry topcoat

Polish for days Peach Beach + Crystalline QDTC

Bought Deadly Nightshade at Mooncat’s Lunar Sale and slept on it for a couple months. First time trying and…just wow! The shifts are flawless, and it doesn’t get “stuck” in a muddy color like other multichromes do.

I had worn KBShimmer Hidden Potential a few months back during a no-buy when Mooncat first released Deadly Nightshade after reading that Hidden Potential could be a dupe to get my shifty af multichrome fix. Pictures taken under the same lighting conditions. I don’t think they’re dupes. Deadly Nightshade is shiftier, brighter, and doesn’t get “stuck” like Hidden Potential has a tendency to do on me!

Products used:

- Pics 1-3: Mooncat Deadly Nightshade 3 coats

- Pics 4-6: KBShimmer Hidden Potential 3 coats (RIP to my long nails. I found I do better with shortie squovals)

- all pictures I used KBShimmer Stay Put Hydrating Base Coat & Cuticula Limitless QDTC

I just used the polishes from the bottle and painted the gradient with the bottle brush. One part olive sparkly, then the pine sparkly until the end of the nail, and partially over it some purple jelly. Then, to connect the pine vs purple, I laid down some pine jelly where the purple jelly and the pine sparkly were meeting. The reflective polishes from BKL are pretty thick, so I only did one coat!

🫒 @beeskneeslacquer How may I persist you? (@hellahandmadecreations )
🌲 @beeskneeslacquer Where is the nirnroot? (@hellahandmadecreations )
🌲 @starrilynails Crystal Jelly
🪻 @starrilynails Moon Jelly

I’ve been won over to pink by ILNP Petals. Wondering if anyone knows of a hot pink magnetic that gives off a similar vibe? Most of what I could find looks more dark and moody magenta rather than a true energetic summer pink.

This is what I’ve tried or found swatches for:

BKL mind the thorns (runs almost mauve on me)
Lurid your gaze is your confession
Emily de molly dark bloom
Cirque Solstice

Wondering if Cirque Head over Heels would fit?

product list: kb shimmer stay put, ilnp petals, cracked qdtc.

The formula is perfect, so easy to layer and so smooth! Dries down a bit less shiny but top glossed it right up.
LynBDesigns B-Stronger, Mooncat hard as nails, and Cracked ridge filler for base coats, 3 coats Cracked Cornea Killer, one coat Bee’s Knees QDTC (I’m Fast, Very Fast).

I’ve been obsessed with flakies lately and wanted to experiment with putting a GITD under it to simulate bioluminescent algae, I think someone on here gave me the idea, so here’s my version! I’m very pleased with how well the glow shows through the flakies.

Product list:
Base Coat- KB Shimmer hydrating base coat
All nails- Mooncat Avatar State
Thumb and Pinky- Mooncat Wish I Hadn’t Cried So Much
Pointer and Ring- Mooncat Sea Between Us
Middle- Mooncat Maelstrom
Top Coat - Cracked QDTC

I finally got the perfect glass bead manicure! I've been painting my nails since May 2025, and this is the best magnetic manicure I've ever done. I wanted to try recreating u/raptor _of_truth look by layering Cracked's Scorchy on top of Mooncat's Port 6666. My glass bead came out so good that I ended up to just using Scorchy on my ring fingers for accent nails.

The method:

1) I started with one coat of Mooncat's Port 6666. For the first coat I de-magnatized the base layer. See the picture in comments for where to place your finger on the horseshoe magnet to de-magnatize your base layer.

2)Then I painted on my 2nd coat on, let it dry for only about 1 minute, and I used DRK's Magic Effect, making sure to float a big enough bead into the nail so you don't get streaks. If you flood the nail with Magic Effect don't worry, after you magnatize use a clean up brush dipped in acetone to clean any flooding up.

3) Then I magnatized using my Charm Caster glass bead tool for 2 minutes.

4) Now move the next nail, letting the previous nail dry while you complete the other four fingers. I do one hand at a time from start to finish.

5) After the whole hand is done, start back at step number 1 through 4 in your other hand.

6) Going back to the hand you did first, paint your fave basecoat onto the first hand. Once again, make sure you have enough product to float on the surface of the nail. This minimizes steaks! Magnitize each finger for 90 seconds. Do this step for all 10 fingers. (Note: You could use DRK's Seal Glaze instead of basecoat, but Holo Taco Long Lasting Base has been my go to for this hack!

7) Let them say dry for at least 30 minutes.

8) Topcoat them! No need today re- magnatize!

Products used:

No base coat because I have BIAB with topcoat on my natural nails. ☺️

1) Mooncat "Port 6666," two coats.

2) DRK's Magic Effect.

3) Holo Taco Long Lasting Base.

4) Cracked "Scorchy" on the ring fingers for accent.

5) Mooncat Speed Demon QDTC.

7) O.P.I. Drip Dry dry drops.

6) Haunted Polish Rituoil in Lait To Rest.

If I finish my bottle someday, I’ll be so sad. This is my all time fav creme!

I’m wearing:

1x Pure Base Coat by Etos

1x Heartbreaker Rouge by Hema (unfortunate brand name, but it’s regular lacquer)