Oh Sinful Colors, we love you. You don't have to try and be like all the popular girls.
I spotted this at my local Rite Aid, Nothing in it was a dupe for OPI's Touring America collection, though they were very pretty.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Gems in a Bottle giveaway!
So, as I’ve mentioned before, I’m going to hold a giveaway! The winner will get part of China Glaze’s Holiday Collection Let It Snow, nail art stickers, and nail patches!
Head over to my blog for details and to enter the giveaway!
*The giveaway ends at November 26, 2011 11:59pm PDT.The Christmas sets are always so beautiful! Check out Gemsinabottle and her awesome giveaway here!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Trick or Treat Manicure
Halloween manicure time! Holiday manis are always such fun. I used Liquid Leather for the black, and three coats of Sally Hansen’s Pumpkin Spice. I was such a lemming for this glitter, it’s bright orange glitter in a sheer grey base. The orange I have on my thumb is a mini from the Spookettes collections I got a while back. It’s just an average orange creme.
How are you doing your manicure this Halloween?
Friday, October 28, 2011
Skull and Glossbones
Going to a Halloween part today, so I decided to do simple blood splatters to complete my zombie outfit. It's a super easy technique, it's just very time consuming.
Before I started I wrapped my nails with tape before hand so clean up was a breeze. Skull and Glossbones was the base and China Glaze's Salsa was used for the "blood". I used a normal straw this time, and I regret using it, I'm sure they would have come out much better if I'd used a smaller straw; a coffee stir perhaps.
All you have to do is dip your straw into the color and blow it onto your nails. Make sure to tip your nail and blow across instead of down, it seems to have a better splatter pattern that way.
Have you tried this before? How did it turn out?
Before I started I wrapped my nails with tape before hand so clean up was a breeze. Skull and Glossbones was the base and China Glaze's Salsa was used for the "blood". I used a normal straw this time, and I regret using it, I'm sure they would have come out much better if I'd used a smaller straw; a coffee stir perhaps.
All you have to do is dip your straw into the color and blow it onto your nails. Make sure to tip your nail and blow across instead of down, it seems to have a better splatter pattern that way.
Have you tried this before? How did it turn out?
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Midnight in Moscow
MIdnight in Moscow, I do adore you.
This is from the Russian collection that came out in ‘07 and it’s definitely a stand out. It’s a near black with red burgundy shimmer. It’s so beautiful that I couldn’t stop staring at my fingers while I was outside. (Simple things, I know) It’s a “lit from within” polish that I just dig so much.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Warrior Pop Art
I used the manicure that I already had one, China Glaze’s Westside Warrior and tried to recreate a piece of pop art that I found at Colourlovers (I urge anyone looking for inspiration to go there). I definitely need to do more line work, all of them are so shaky. I used OPI’s French Quarter for Your Thoughts for the grey, CG White on White, OPI’s Ate Berries in the Canaries and Orly’s Viridian Vinyl.
Has anyone else tried Colour Lovers for inspiration? Care to share?
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Westside Warrior
This is from the Metro collection (specifically the Downtown mini-collection), that China Glaze came out with a few months back, called Westside Warrior. It photographed much darker here than it really is, but I think that is because I had to shoot indoors. We’ve had quite the dreary wet week here, and it’s put a damper (pun intended) on my outdoor shooting.
The color is not breaking new ground that’s for sure, but I just can’t pass up olive/army green cremes. The formula, as always with China Glaze is a dream to work with, no streaks, no clumps fully opaque after two coats. I can’t wait to layer some glitter on this baby, it’s such a perfect base.
Viridian Vinyl
Glitter love
Glitter gradients are my new favorite thing. I am seriously obsessed with them, and I keep trying to think of new color gradient combinations that will look nice. Today I was trying to recreate peacock colors, it’s on of my favorite gradients thus far.
I used Orly’s Viridian Vinyl (which is crazy weird, but I’ll get it it’s own post later on) as the base, and then sponged on liberal amounts of OPI’s Sparkle Teal Sunrise, which has large green and blue hex glitter in a green (not teal like I had thought) jelly base, along with smaller gold glitters pieces in it. It’s apparently a repackage of Nicole by OPI color, that was released as an ULTA exclusive a few months ago.
I also used Sinful Colors Call You Later which is a stunning green and gold glitter, and Nail Junkie (which is like looking into space, or deep ocean, in the bottle but is so sheer when it goes on).
Roxy, take two
I know I’ve done this Zoya Roxy swatch once before, but I had it over top of OPI’s Russian Navy then; here it is in it’s own glory. It’s a magenta glitter suspended in a wine/raspberry base so it doesn’t need many coats to become opaque. I used three here, with a coat of Seche.
My only complaint, and it’s a minor one that every polish head has with glitter, is how gritty it is, and Roxy seems to be extra gritty in that sense. A good top coat is a must with this one. But, onto it’s good traits, other than it is gorgeous is that removal is a breeze, unlike other glitters I’ve used before. (I’m looking at you Milani Gems… )
Usually I obsessively look over swatches before I finally decide to buy, but that was not the case with Roxy. I saw her and HAD to have it. I adore purple polish, and this one is a stunner, I highly recommend it.
Elephantastic Pink
Elephantastic Pink is beautiful.
I got this a few years ago to go with a Halloween costume when I went as Princess Peach, and I never got to show it off because I wore gloves the entire time! I decided to pull it out and give it another go and see how it looks, and it’s just as wonderful as I remember. It’s a nice creme pink that goes on sort of sheer- I needed three coats to become fully opaque here. It was from the Indian collection that came out in 2008, so it’s been out for a while, but if you’re looking for a bright creme pink color, grab this one.
Go Blue!
I first saw the nail decal video that iliketopaintmynails posted and I knew at once that I was going to have a blast with it. It’s just so simple and ingenious that I can’t believe no one else thought of it. It makes intricate work that much easier, and for those of us who cannot paint fancy designs on our dominant hand it’s a lifesaver!
Now, onto my take on it; I’ll let you in on a secret- I can’t watch football at all. I find myself zoning out and/or falling asleep, BUT, I do enjoy compliments. Ha! That’s where this manicure came about. There is a Michigan game coming up so I figure I’d show my support. I used OPI Need Sunglasses? and Chine Glaze’s First Mate. The black is just a no name striper.
Have any of you used the nail decal trick? How did it turn out?
French twist
Today I decided on a low key French mani, but with a twist; using China Glaze’s Hey Sailor and First Mate for the tips. I still think that whole collection was just perfect, all those gorgeous cremes and shimmers. This is one coat of each, and a top of Seche Vite.
Pure crackle
I found a cheap-o crackle polish called Pure Ice at Walgreens and decided to give it a whirl. It has no name, only a number, so I’m going to call it Ogre Slime… ha. It’s a beautiful color, and I wish I had a base polish that looked like it too. If you’re still into the crackle trend then head over there, they have a plethora of colors that all crackle. And at $3 it’s a steal!
I painted it over top of the glow in the dark OPI, and it looks really neat in the dark. I think this is going to be my go to Halloween look, it’s super simple, but when the lights go out, bam! Glow in the dark!
Glow in the Dark!
I couldn’t pass up the new glow in the dark polish from OPI so I picked up the Spookettes four piece mini collection from Ebay. This is Zom-Body to Love and it has such a bright glow to it. I’ve never used a glow in the dark polish before so I hope they all live up to this. One coat will make it glow, but the more the brighter so I have about four or five here. Three would most definitely give you a substantial color and glow I’m sure.
In case you were wondering, the other three are an orange, He’s My Boo, a white Mummy Knows Best, and a plain black called I Only Date Werewolves. I believe they are all just repacks, white is Alpine Snow and black is Black Onyx.
*I also must apologize for my awful picture and hands AND cuticles! I’ve been laid low by the flu and I’m just barely dragging myself along.
Emerald
I was so happy with finding Emerald that I had to take off the manicure that I had on and paint them fully with it. I just found out that all of the Revlon Top Speeds are 4-free formulas, which make them that much better in my eyes (The four baddies are formaldehyde, dibutly phthalate, toluene, and formaldehyde resin which have been cited for causing allergic reactions and in rare cases cancer). It’s definitely an opaque polish, and you could get away with only wearing one coat if you’re a bit heavy handed. I did have a streak or two but mainly because I rushed.
Again, it’s a perfect dupe for OPI’s Jade is the New Black. If you need one I’d grab this one, not only is it cheaper but it seems to be a bit more pigmented to me.
*Apologies for the flash in the picture, I’ve had nothing but cloudy days and rain here and it’s put a damper (pun intended) on my natural lighting.
Emerald Teal
Woohoo! Finally found Revlon’s Emerald today. It’s so beautiful, and a perfect dupe for OPI’s Jade is the New Black. I decided to do a tape manicure with it and the Fairy Teal that I already have on.
Fairy Teal
I found a spectacular teal at Target last week, it’s a Sally Hanson Complete Salon Formula and it’s called Fairy Teal. A beautiful creme teal, I had only one coat for an opaque no nail line color pay off. (Yay!) Of course I still ended up doing two because I am anal like that. The brush on the Salon Formulas are fantastic, a thick round brush that fits perfect into my nail bed. It’s a little bit more expensive than the Insta-Dri line but it a unique color that I had to have.
As a side note, you will want to use a base coat for this one, because it will stain terribly when you take off.
Konad, I adore you so.
Konad has got to be one of the quickest and easiest ways to spruce up a manicure that’s a few days old. Here I took my lovely Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet mani and added plate number M73 with the special Konad white polish on top.
I’m thinking about getting the Bundle Monster because I enjoy the normal ones so much (but they are too expensive to buy one by one!), I was wondering if anyone has them, or has ever used them, and if it’s worth the purchase.
Mint Sorbet
It’s almost winter time here, but I still adore using spring pastels This is Sally Hansen’s Hard as Nails XTreme Wear Nail Color in Mint Sorbet. It is beautiful! Best of all, it’s opaque after one coat. I ended up putting two on, just because. At three dollars a bottle it’s ace.
Funky Manicure
I wanted to try something similar to a manicure that I’ve already done before. I just adore this color combination. (And please excuse the random glitters, I was trying to fancy it up when I realized it was already busy enough and was too lazy to redo that nail!) I also trimmed up my nails, they were getting a bit too long.
This is OPI’s Funky Dunkey paired with the special Konad blue polish.
Adventure awaits!
I went to visit my best friend last week and she indulged my nasty nail polish addiction and took me shopping. I picked up a few colors, and hooray, I finally saw the Adventure Island set up at Rite Aid. I got this color, Adventure Island, and I’m not totally sure what to think about it. Some moments I will look at it and like it, and other times, not so much.
It’s a very odd creme polish; a green base, but it’s got so much yellow in it that I can’t quite peg what it would be called. I also had a hard time with it because when I held my hand to very green things it would appear to me as a light green, but as a muddy yellow against other colors. It’s not a duochrome in any way, I’m just unable to express this color very well.
Other than that (I know, I know), it’s a very nice polish, I have two coats on here and could have most likely used a third because I see nail lines. That, and the fact that the brush is so small and I’ve become accustomed to wider brushes.
Gradients are lovely
Today’s manicure is a lovely glitter gradient, with one of the new OPI Touring America collection. I used Uh Oh, Roll Down the Window as the base and a host of other glitters to achieve this look.
I will admit that the name makes me giggle (I’m that juvenile, yes. No shame) and I was a bit disappointed that it didn’t dry the same color as was in the bottle. It’s a shade or two darker, so keep that in mind if you’re buying it. It’s still a beautiful murky olive color and I do so enjoy the dirty colors that have been popping up this year.
Just in case you were wondering, the colors used in the glitter gradient is OPI’s Spark de Triomphe, Wet n Wild Gold and the Beautiful and China Glaze’s White Cap.
Ate Berries in the French Quarter!
I wanted to jazz up that wonderful new OPI I was wearing so I tried Nailside’s tape manicure. I adore pretty much every tape manicure that she does, and am in awe of how straight and perfect they look. (Turns out, I still need some practice!!)
This is OPI’s Ate Berries in the Canaries which is quickly becoming one of my top colors. Opaque after one coat, such a pretty color, very flattering on my skin.
This is OPI’s Ate Berries in the Canaries which is quickly becoming one of my top colors. Opaque after one coat, such a pretty color, very flattering on my skin.
I urge you to give Nailside a look if you enjoy beautiful nail art.
French Quarter for Your Thoughts
My lovely little blog, how you have been missed. I apologize for my month long unexplained disappearance, I recently moved from one coast to another. The four thousand mile journey left me little time to actually devote to my nails, and fortunately I didn’t break any! Now that I’m settled down I will be returning to my blog full time again.
Alright! I know what you want, on to the nail polish!
Today I was able to get my hands on a few shades from the new OPI Touring America collection.
This shade is called French Quarter for Your Thoughts; it’s a lovely dove grey/wet concrete color that does bring the spanish moss covered cemeteries in New Orleans to mind.
This shade is called French Quarter for Your Thoughts; it’s a lovely dove grey/wet concrete color that does bring the spanish moss covered cemeteries in New Orleans to mind.
It will be absolutely perfect for starting nail art, I think and I’m thrilled that OPI added this color (and the other grey, Suzi Takes the Wheel) to the collection; I find myself surprised time and again by how much I enjoy plain grey lacquer.
What are your thoughts on grey polish?
Harry Potter nail art
Yes readers, I am a nerd. Todays manicure is celebrating the wonderful Harry Potter, I did the house colors as shields on my fingers and the Deathly Hallows symbol on my thumb. Colors used are (starting at thumb) China Glaze’s Liquid Leather, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Silver, OPI’s Need Sunglasses? (two coats under), L.A. Colors Color Craze Wave Length, China Glaze Salsa, Revlon Royal, OPI Skull and Glossbones, Finger Paints Scenery Greenery, Revlon Silver Dollar, OPI Need Sunglasses, China Glaze Liquid Leather.
Whew!
Whew!
Anyone going to see the movie tonight?
You ate berries, where?
Now I’m feeling better and back on track so regular polish posts will resume!
This is OPI’s Ate Berries in the Canaries, from the colors of Spain collection. It’s a divine purple/pink creme color that I actually can’t pin down; in doors it looks very purple, outside it’s a pink color. I think it would work for both cool and warm skin tones.
Captain America
My apologize for not uploading anything in a while, I’ve been fighting some awful summer cold and I just couldn’t focus enough on my nails.
Here I attempted to do the amazing Nailside’s double lightning bolt tutorial. When I first laid eyes on her creation I knew it would be a perfect superhero mani, so I tried to do a Captain America inspired one. As you can see, I probably need to work harder. Ha. The thumb looks really good, the rest? Not so much.
I used China Glaze Hey Sailor for the red, OPI’s Ogre-the-Top Blue, and Revlon’s Silver Dollar for the silver. Any tips on this mani for future use?
Royal Revlon
This is the amazing Revlon polish I was telling you about that I used on Memorial day. It’s a fabulous blue jelly that just catches your eye when the sun hits it. It’s just so vibrant, almost surprisingly so. I would love to see Revlon come out with other polish that looked like this. My only complaint that I have with it is that it’s so very watery. This is three coats and I still have a visible nail line, I’m sure that it’s just a personal preference but I prefer to have opaque color. Other than that, it’s brilliant.
Coconut Kisses
I’m wearing China Glaze’s Coconut Kiss from the Fiji Fling collection. It’s a lovely purple metallic that I’ve had for ages! (As you can tell I’m sure, the writing has all worn off the bottle) This is one of the only metallic colors that didn’t leave those terrible brush strokes behind, though I did have some bubbling issues, but I’m not sure if it is because mine is so old or if that is an actual problem.
I think this might still be part of their base collection but I’m not entirely sure.
Comparison Swatch
This is a comparison swatch of Sinful Colors Aquamarine and OPI’s Ogre-the-Top Blue from the Shrek Forever After Collection. They are both gorgeous creme blues, and so much alike that I honestly had to mark my fingers to remember which one was wearing which! I did three coat of each; I did notice that the Sinful Colors was a bit of the thick goopy side, but in its defense I’ve had it for over a year now and it could most likely use a bit of thinner.
White Cap
I added China Glaze’s White Cap to my collection after I swatched it a few times at the store. When I first saw pictures of it I had thought it was just okay, so-so. Once I had the chance to play with it I had to buy it. It’s a beautiful white jelly with gold glass flecks and when the sun hits it you get a burst of gold. It most definitely reminds me of sea foam and waves. My pictures do not do it justice, and I’m not sure why it looks silver here. I also just found that Sinful Colors Aquamarine is an almost perfect dupe for Ogre-the-Top Blue. I’ll do some comparison shots later on.
Sinful Colors - Aquamarine, topped with China Glaze - White Cap.
What's With the Cattitude?
I went to ULTA on Monday, used my coupon (you guys! Sign up for their email, they send out some great coupons), and bought the last What’s With the Cattitude? from the Shrek Forever After collection. I was so pleased, I’ve been looking for it for a while now.
I also went ahead and trimmed up my pointer and middle nail to match my broken ring finger. (T_T sad days.)
It’s such a gorgeous creme blue, it did drag a bit after the first coat but I was able to fix it right up with the second. Now if only I could find Ogre the Top Blue…
First Franken!
I made my own color last night! I’ve been reading all of Dr. Frankenpolish’s blog (BOO, she isn’t updating anymore, how late am I to that party?), and I wanted to try my hand at it. I started with Sinful Colors’ Aquamarine, added some of China Glaze’s Papaya Punch, a bit of their For Audrey color and then a smidgen of Revlon’s Silver Dollar for the shimmers. It was a lot of fun to mix it up, and I was definitely missing a good green in my collection but when I went to ULTA this afternoon I realized I had inadvertently mixed up an exact dupe of China Glaze’s Starboard color!!
Have you ever made a frankenpolish and if so, how did it turn out?
Konad, you get all my love
I am so in love with konad. If only I could get my China Glazes to work with the stamps then my life would be a-O.K. (On that subject, has anyone else been able to get any other polish to work as well as the konad special polish does on the stamps?)
Today I used Revlon’s Silver Dollar. It’s a gorgeous silver foil/metallic that was opaque after two coats. The formula is really nice, not too thick but I did notice a bit of drag in between the two coats so wait until the first is dry before reapplying. Once that dried I added Konad stamp #m65 with the special polish. Also it looks like I’ll have to trim up my pointer and middle finger (T_T) soon; my nail is too long for the stamp!
This post will have to last for a few days, I’m taking the weekend off and hitting up IMATS in Pasadena and will hopefully have some goodies to share and swatch when I get back!
Ruby Fishnets
I thought my manicure was missing something so I added black fishnet stamp to it. I used Konad’s special black polish and plate #m57.
Ruby Pumps
Yesterday my manicure was two coats of China Glaze’s Salsa covered by their red glitter color called Ruby Pumps. Ruby Pumps is a perfect red micro glitter, suspended in a red jelly. It absolutely does not translate well in pictures that took, but trust me it is gorgeous.
Mermaid Tears
Today I am wearing the water decals that my best friend showed me on Ebay. I found a seller named Yayajulia (shout out!) that sells beautiful highly detailed ones for cheap. (And, if you order 7 or more s&h is free, score!)
I painted my nails with OPI’s Mermaid Tears from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection. Then I pasted the decals on and covered them with a layer of Seche Vite.
(Click Yayajulia’s name to get to her Ebay)
2010 Close up
Close up of China Glaze First Mate from the Anchors Away collection with Nubar’s 2010 on top manicure.
First Mate, 2010
This is my manicure from last Thursday, my apologies for not getting it up sooner my week was hectic!
I used my China Glaze First Mate from the Anchors Away collection. It’s such a pretty creme navy blue color. Once that dried I covered it up with Nubar’s 2010. I cannot even tell you how much I adore this top coat. It has so many colors in it and it looks like magic in the bottle- on the nail is even better.
Spark de Triomphe
I know I said I would swatch 2010 but I got my Spark de Triomphe in the mail yesterday and I just couldn’t wait to put it on.
I’m absolutely blown away by this glitter. It’s got to be one of my favorites. I am still a China Glaze girl but OPI really impressed me with this one. This was opaque after just two coats and is the prettiest antique looking silver.
It has large silver hex glitter surrounded by smaller silver and gold glitter particles. The smaller gold glitter gives it the antique look, almost reminds me of an older platinum ring.
I got this on Ebay for 5 bucks including shipping and handling (and it’s not a fake! Whoohoo) and I encourage anyone else who wants a good deal to look for OPI on Ebay. ^_^
EGCO:
Pink Leopard
I chipped yesterdays manicure all to heck… I forgot to wear my gloves when I washed dishes. >.< My fault I suppose.
Today I did neon pink from Sinful Colors, simply called Pink and Konad plate #m57.
Funky Konad
Today I’m wearing OPI’s Funky Dunkey from the Shrek Forever After collection with Konad’s paisley print stamp- plate #m60- with their special blue polish. Funky is such a perfect creme purple color. It’s such a perfect true grape, and you’d almost think you colored your finger tips with a Crayola crayon!
(Plus with it being on sale I couldn’t pass it up!!)
Shatter You Later
I decided to take the Sinful Colors manicure and spruce it up with a bit of the OPI Shatter. I really liked it, but then when I added a top coat of Seche Vite it started to peel up at the corners. Has anyone else had this happen?
Call You Later
Today I’m wearing Sinful Colors polish. I’m a sucker for cheap polish and they are by far one of the best of the best cheap-o polishes. Usually you can find these at your local drug stores, for anywhere from 99¢ to $1.99 to my all time favorite BOGO sale.
This is Sinful Colors #932 Call You Later, it’s a beautiful green glitter polish but it’s so very translucent that I almost didn’t finish the manicure. This is actually eight coats of paint and two coats of Seche Vite. Once it did finally become opaque I was quite pleased with it and glad I stuck it out.
It is St. Patrick’s Day in polish form; it has large green hex glitter surrounded by smaller green and gold square glitter in a clear polish. I’m thinking that the polish would be better suited as a glitter accent top coat over another color then trying to paint it opaque like I did.
Here is an Extreme Glitter Close-Up (EGCO GO!!)
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