Tough as Nails, and Twice as Pretty

DNA

2012-03-02T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hey Guys! Today I want to share with you some polishes I received from the lovely Paula from Brasil! She was showing me swatches of polishes, and as soon as I saw these, I HAD to have them. They are the brand DNA, and the caps say Italy on them! My motherland!!!!! So here are some pictures of the three I have!

First up is "Natale". It's a blood red polish with a slight silver sheen in it. It's also kind of jelly-ish, in that it took a couple of coats to hide any visible nail line. These pictures are 3 medium coats.

Next up is "Cosmo". "Cosmo" is a pinkish-purple foil finish polish. This applied easily, and was opaque in two coats. I really love the finish on this polish! It reminds me of a Funky Fingers polish called "Favorite Girl". I'll have to see how similar they are.

Last up is my FAVORITE of the three. This one is named "Spazio" and it is a blue based purple foil! I just love, love, love the color!! This is two coats:

Thanks again Paula, for these great polishes!!! Have a great day everyone!

Duo-Chrome Holo LOVE

2012-02-28T07:30:00.001-08:00

Hi guys! So in my last post I mentioned that I was going to layer a duo-chrome polish atop the color I had on (China Glaze "Let's Groove"). Well today I have that for you, and then some! First, I applied Hits Mari Moon in the color "Cutie Pie". This polish shifts from teal to magenta. The polish itself is somewhat sheer, and putting it over a dark base really helps all the colors shine through.

After that, I decided I wanted to add some holo-mazingness! A lovely girl named Jennifer messaged me saying she saw I was looking for Sally Hansen Prisms, and said she had a "Purple Diamond" she would swap! I was SO EXCITED! PURPLE HOLO?! Yes please!! Jennifer has a facebook nail page you can check out: JensNailFiles. I received the polish in the mail today and it is STUNNING. I put this delicious morsel right on top, and it was pure magic! I love that you can still see the duo-chrome color shift underneath, depending on how the light hits it!

Have a great day!!!

Let's Groove

2012-02-27T07:30:00.001-08:00

Hey guys! So tonight I was going polish my nails with one of the Hits Mari Moon duo-chrome polishes. They are fairly sheer on their own, so I was scouring my stash for a good polish to use underneath. I settled on China Glaze, "Let's Groove". It's a somewhat dark red based purple, with a pink sheen. After I applied it, there was no way I was covering it up. I guess this is the first time I have used this polish because I had no idea how pretty it is!! I love the pink shimmer in it, but what really surprised me, is what appears to be blue shimmer too! I will end up putting the duo chrome over it (probably tomorrow night), but for now, I am admiring this little gem!

I tried to change the lighting so you could see the pink and blue sparkles!

Have a great day and week!!

Chalkboard Nails Dotting Tool Contest Entry

2012-02-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Fellow blogger Sarah, over at Chalkboard Nails, is hosting a nail art contest! Basically, it's about creating a look using a dotting tool of some kind - whether it be an actual dotting tool, or a tooth pick, or bobby pin. You can see all the rules on her blog!

I chose to go with an island/tropical theme. My index finger is supposed to be an ocean curl. I used a polish by Ana Hickman in the color "Rock" for the background. Then, using a dotting tool, I started dotting the water and curl with OPI DS "Sapphire, OPI DS "Glamour", China Glaze "White on White", and China Glaze, "Frosty".

On my middle finger I painted the background with Sinful Colors "Cinderella". Then, using a dotting tool, I dotted the sun, using Color Club "Almost Famous" and China Glaze "GR8".

On my ring finger I painted the top half with the same "rock" polish as on my index finger, and the bottom half with Rimmel "Steel Grey" and China Glaze "Knotty" over it. Then, using dotting tools I designed the palm tree using quite a few colors including: China Glaze "IX", Kiwi-Cool-ada", "He's Going in Circles", Orly "Meet me Under the Mistletoe", and OPI DS "Desire".

Last, on my pinky finger, I used a dotting tool to create a sunset. These colors include: OPI DS "Original", DS "Signature", China Glaze "How About a Tumble", "IDK", "LOL", "Octa Gone Wild", and "Don't be a Square".

Rainbows of Neon

2012-02-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I have for you what I think might be the coolest mani I have ever done! I am going to just get right into it!

I started with two coats of China Glaze "White on White".

Then, using the Color Club "Poptastic" Collection (all but the lightest pink color), I free handed stripes. The lines aren't anywhere near perfect, but honestly, I love the way it turned out! I like how the colors sort of blend into each other!

Color Club: Pucci-licious, Chelsea Girl, Twiggie, Almost Famous, Wham! Pow!, Warhol

I wore it like this for two days and received many compliments! The white underneath really makes all the colors pop, and it is just so much fun to look at! It is pure happiness! After I finished this look and was staring at it, I decided I was going to either stamp over it with black polish or use black crackle polish to achieve the look of that paper that is colorful underneath covered in black and you scratch away at it to reveal a colorful design. Kind of like this:

I didn't have a thick enough black polish to stamp with, so I just used some black crackle!

Voila! Have a great day everyone!

Super Cool Layering!

2012-02-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! I have an awesome layering combo to show you guys. Seriously, it's so cool looking. Well, I may as well just show you!

It started with a simple polishing of OPIs "Dutch Ya Just Love OPI". It's a really nice red based purple with a golden shimmer. It also happens to be a dupe for Zoya , "Tru", so if you have that you're good. The formula was superb and two coats covered perfectly.

Then, I decided to get a little fancy. I haven't used my Kleancolors in forever, so out came "Chunky Holo Purple". Layered one coat of that on top, and this was the result:

To see more, see after the break!

Nice! Well, I couldn't stop there. On top of that went some Cult Nails "Clairvoyant". If you don't have that, you can use some Finger Paints Flakies like "Twisted", or Essie "Shine of the Times". Once you do that, you get this little gem:

I love it! I think this has been my favorite layering combo yet! :)

Shattered on Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T06:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! For those of you celebrating, I hope it's a great one! I decided to keep it simple and kick it old school at the same time... Can crackle be considered old school yet? Too soon? :)

I started off with a new Essence Color and Go in "Glamorous Life". It's a really pretty deep pink, almost red, with glass fleck shimmer. It reminds me of crushed up strawberries in the bottle! I really love it! And, it was $0.99 at Ulta... can't beat that price!! It's only 5mL but honestly, I love minis! They are cheaper and I don't feel like I have this huge bottle that I will probably never finish! On top I added some China Glaze "Black Mesh" crackle. I added some thinner to it months ago, and I think it has really made a difference in its shattering. I love the way it broke apart on the nail. A coat of Seche Vite and I am ready to go!

Essence Color and Go "Glamorous Life"

China Glaze Black Mesh

One Pic-er

2012-02-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Here is a quick pic of OPI's 'Mod About You'. Just a basic light, pale pink. Always appropriate, always classy!

Purple Beach!

2012-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! One brand that I have recently fallen in love with, is Nubar. I really only knew about them from 'Nubar 2010', their infamous flakie top coat / Sally Hansen 'Treasure' dupe. I didn't really know too much about their other colors until I recently purchased a few. They make a GREAT polish!! They have a ton of amazing colors, at an affordable price! The one I am going to show you today is called 'Purple Beach'. It is a BEAUTIFUL purple/green duo-chrome polish. It really has an amazing color shift depending on how the light hits it, and what's great is that it is fully opaque on its own. This is three coats. I am so glad I was able to pick up a few of their polishes, so be on the lookout for more Nubar in the future!

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Glitter Gal Holos!

2012-02-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday everyone!! To make it not so bad, here are two Glitter Gal Holos! I purchased both of these from Llarowe, who's website you can find here. The two I bought are "Dark Purple 3D Holo" and "10 to Midnight". I showed the dark purple one in my previous Purple Holo Ombre post, but here it is on its own. They are both fully opaque in three coats and the formula is great. No dragging or streaking with these little babies! They are on the expensive side, but if you can catch one of Llarowe's great sales, it's not so bad!

Have a good day, everyone!!

A special post :)

2012-02-04T07:00:00.000-08:00

One thing you all might not know about me, is that I live on the opposite side of the country from my family. I love living out west, but I am truly an east coast girl. I am very close with my family, and while I love my life and my location, I miss my family dearly. Every chance I get to go home and visit my parents and brother, I take, and I try really hard not to take any of my time with them for granted! I have the best parents in the WORLD, and I LOVE them to death. We are a bunch of loud, crazy Italians, and I wouldn't have it any other way!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to go home and see the fam. One night my mom asked me to do her nails, and YOU KNOW I had nail polish with me! So I got out my arsenal and let my mom pick what color she wanted. She chose Zoya, "Sloane". "Sloane" is a very pretty, dark burgundy color, with extra fine multi-colored glitters throughout. The glitters can really only be seen in the bottle, but on the nail you get a nice, shimmery, deep burgundy. After that was done, I convinced my mom to let me try one of the Finger Paints flakes on her. So on top of "Sloane", you see Finger Paints, "Twisted". Here is the finished look:

I think it's a beautiful combo, on a beautiful woman! I love you Ma!!

CANDY-LICIOUS!!!!

2012-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

Howdy do, folks?!? Today I have a polish I grabbed at the last minute from CVS. It was on clearance for 50% off, and it is Wet n Wild, "Candy-licious". I think I paid like 99 cents or a $1 for this polish. It caught my eye... it's a very pretty bright, vibrant, barbie-like-pink. I'm sure I have a few colors that are close to this, but what can I say. I'm a sucker for a lovely, pink polish! Especially a cheap one!

The formula on this was just alright. I found it a little bit thick, which thinner might help with, but I worked with it. This is two thick coats. I do like the color a lot, but I don't think I'm going to be keeping this one. There is a lady I work with who's name is Candy. I call her Candy-licious ALL THE TIME. I didn't even know that was the name of this polish until I got home. So I think I will give it to her. I don't even know if she wears polish, but at the very least she can just keep it on her desk as a knick-knack name sake! :)

Have a great day everybody!!!

Magnetix

2012-02-02T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!! While I was visiting the supply stores over the weekend, I noticed one of the stores got the new China Glaze Magnetix polishes in. The way these polishes work, is first, you paint your nails with the polish. Then, while, the polish is still wet, you hold a provided magnet over your wet nail for approximately 10-15 seconds. There are magnetic particles in the polish that will be drawn to the surface when the magnet is applied. This will in turn make a fancy design in the polish, resulting in a two-tone color design! The magnet provided by China Glaze has three design options: diagonal lines, arrows, and a star. I tried the start design first, and I was not impressed. I had that magnet SO CLOSE to the nail that I could see the magnetic particles start to pull up the polish towards the magnet (and many times this resulted in the polish being smudged from touching the magnet) but I just could not get a good design!!!!! I will try again with the other patterns, but for now, these are my results:

China Glaze Magnetix - Instant Chemistry

Have any of you tried these yet??

Swap!

2012-02-01T18:52:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody!!!!! I have a super exciting post that just could not wait!!!!! As many of you know, I am in a few nail polish groups on facebook. These are a great way to meet fellow nail polish addicts, and there are many members outside of the US. One awesome benefit of being in these groups is the ability to organize swaps! A girl in one of the groups I am in mentioned she had other friends in Brazil looking to do a polish trade. I offered to participate and was put in touch with a lovely girl named Paula. We exchanged e-mails and discussed polishes we were looking for. Today, I got one of the packages she sent me!!!! I was SO excited! I love getting to try other brands that aren't sold here! Here are some pictures of the beautiful polishes I received:

Look at the pretty wrapping!!

My first glimpse of what was in store!!

Little notes from Paula... she added some extra polishes in there!! It was so sweet of her!!!

Voila!!!!!!!!

Ludurana Supremo and Risque Apuro Violeta

LOOK AT THE PURPLE HOLO!!!!!!!! My jaw dropped!!!

DNA Natale and Spazio. Colorama Roxo Metalico, Hits Glitter Forte

I HAD to get the DNA ones! They say Italy on them!! I am 100% Italian and they are from the mother land!!

Rivka: Charlotte, Carrie, Samantha, Miranda, Lilly

They are named after the Sex in the City girls!! I love that!!!!

Rivka: Dani, Duda, Mari, Mel

I love everything so much!!! Paula also included some peanut and chocolate candy. She is super sweet, and I am so glad and thankful we got to swap polishes!!! There is another box on the way. After seeing these, I am even more excited and anxious to get the next one!!! I can't wait to try all of these!! THANK YOU AGAIN, PAULA!!!!! :)

Electropop Lights!

2012-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hello lovely readers!! Today I have a great new collection to share with you. I know there have been a lot of posts already of the China Glaze Electropop Collection but I wanted to add mine! This collection consists of 12 polishes - six make up the "Brights" package, and six make up the "Lights" package. I have the "Lights" to show you guys!

First up is "Fuchsia Fanatic" This is a bold, vivid hot pink color, and is somewhat jelly-ish in texture. It was pretty opaque in two coats, but they were thicker coats. Two thin coats might result in some visible nail line.

Next up is "Dance Baby". This color is a light, dusty, blue-based pink. I know I took multiple pictures, but somehow only ended up with one after uploading! Here is two coats:

Then we have "Kinetic Candy". This is a really pretty light, pale, blue-green. I really like this color for spring! Here is two coats of "Kinetic Candy":

Next is "Electric Beat". This is a pale, light, gray-blue creme. Another pretty one for spring, this gave full coverage with two coats:

Then we have "Sweet Hook". This is a really pale, light, pink-lavender polish. Normally I don't like such pale colors, but this one is actually really pretty. I think it would make a great base polish for stamping, or for adding fun glitters to. Here is two coats:

Last up is "Gothic Lolita". This polish is a bit different from the rest, in the fact that it has pink/purple microscopic shimmer to it! On first glance it looks like a plain creme polish, but on a closer inspection, it has a little pizzazz to it! Here is two coats of this beauty:

Hope you enjoyed these!! I think it's a great spring collection!

Russian Navy..Suede!

2012-01-31T07:01:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Quick post! - I finally tried one of the suede polishes I have. Behold OPI "Russian Navy Suede". These polishes are really neat - you apply them like normal polish, and they dry to a suede texture like finish. They are meant to be worn without a top coat. These dry REALLY fast, so you have to work fast as you apply them. The first coat may be a little bit streaky, but the second one evens it out pretty fast. Pictures is two coats and no top coat. This polish totally reminds me of dark denim!

Have a good day everyone!

Under My Trench Coat

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday! Today I wanted to show you guys a new Sephora by OPI polish I picked up called "Under My Trench Coat". It's a shimmery tan/beige/nude color with microscopic gold glitter throughout. I'm not a huge fan of nude polishes, but this one really caught my eye, and I really like it! The formula on it was great, and this is two coats:

Sorry my fingers look so slimy, I had just put on some cuticle oil!

Purple-Holo-Ombre?!

2012-01-29T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hey there! I was organizing my polishes the other day, and found myself kind of staring at my purple, holographic polishes. Sometimes I feel bad about picking one over the other (I don't want any of them to feel left out!!!), so I decided to try an ombre mani. I don't think the shades were quite right for this, but I went with it anyway. And, I really liked it! I mean, you can't really go wrong with various purple holos! Here are the polishes I used:

Hits "Hestia", OPI "DS Original", Nubar "Treasure", Glitter Gal "Dark Purple 3D/Holo", Hits "Dionisio"

Thumb: Hits "Dionisio"

Pointer: Glitter Gal "Dark Purple 3D/Holo"

Middle: Nubar "Treasure"

Ring: OPI "DS Original"

Pinky: Hits "Hestia"

Hits "Dionisio"

Glitter Gal "Dark Purple 3D/Holo"

Nubar "Treasure"

OPI "DS Original"

Hits "Hestia"

Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did! Have a great day!

Wisteria vs Gothic Lolita

2012-01-28T11:31:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone! Just a quick comparison post! A reader of mine commented on my Picture Polish, "Wisteria", post saying she thought it looked similar to the new China Glaze Electropop color, "Gothic Lolita". I actually just picked up the "Electropop Lights" collection, so here they are together! As you can see, they are actually not that similar. Wisteria is more blue based, while Gothic Lolita is more red. Also, Wisteria is a pure creme polish, while Gothic Lolita has a pink, shimmery sheen to it. So there you have it! Both beautiful polishes, but different enough to own both :)

Picture Polish Wisteria and China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Thanks for the great question, Polish lover! :)

Zoya Tallulah

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Zoya had a recent promotion where you could get two polishes for free, and just pay shipping. I decided on Tallulah and Kissy. I decided to try Tallulah first, and I can honestly say this is now one of my top 5 blues. This polish is SO pretty. It's a shimmery medium-bright blue, and in the bottle you can see a purple flash. It barely translates to the nail, but it doesn't really matter.... this polish is just perfect! Two easy coats gives full coverage and I topped it with my beloved Seche Vite.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-27T17:24:00.000-08:00

Hi everybody! Happy New Year! It's my first post of 2012. It has been such a long time!!!! I kept meaning to update and then ended up doing something else instead (like going to sleep!) and time just flew by! But I am back and am dedicated to posting a lot more often! Things have been crazy here in CA. I love living here, but I still don't feel like I really do. If that makes any sense. Still adjusting I suppose!! Anyway, let's look at some nail pics!

When Cult Nails had their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale (I forget when it exactly was) I immediately ordered a bottle of Clairvoyant. I know there has already been a ton of swatches of it, but it's so gorgeous! I heard that it may not be available anymore, so that's sad :( If that is the case, I'm glad I got it when I did! Since it is a sheer polish on its own, I layered it over Orly, "Le Chateau". It's a really deep dark green jelly. Here it is on its own!

And here is "Clairvoyant" layered over top!

Isn't it pretty?! It's like stained glass on your nails! I love putting Clairvoyant on top of other polishes!!

Thanks for reading and I will be talking to you all really soon! :)

Shiny Dancer!

2011-11-29T09:00:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! I made a trip to Sephora today (man, I LOVE that store!), and picked up some Sephora by OPI polishes. I couldn't wait to try them, so I painted my nails with one of them already! This polish is called Shiny Dancer (hence the post title :), and I absolutely l-o-v-e it. This is a polish that I first saw.... I want to say about 6 or 8 months ago that I was instantly drawn to. I didn't buy it at the time, but never forgot about it! When I saw it today I was just like, "You know what!! You are coming home with me today!". And voila!

Shiny Dancer is a dirty gray/blue/gun metal polish with pink/purple/teal micro glitter. The first coat was pretty sheer, but two coats evened it out, and after 3, was fully opaque. Here she is:

Sephora by OPI Shiny Dancer. I know it's a little blurry, but it lets you see the colorful sparkles!

Have a great day, everyone!

New Purple-y Goodness!

2011-11-27T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hey guys! So I recently was able to purchase two new brands of polish that I did not own any of - Spa Ritual, and Deborah Lippmann!

I ordered these from Apothica. They have a HUGE selection of items that are packed well and shipped fast.

First up is the purple polish from the Spa Ritual set. This is called: "Shooting Stars". It's a gorgeous red based purple with pink and blue shimmers. I experienced some polish dragging on the first coat, but the second evened everything out. I seriously LOVE this color!!! I'm so glad I decided to try this brand!

Have a great rest of your weekend!!

:)

2011-11-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!! I have so much in my life to be thankful for. My family, my friends, my health, my job, and nail polish and all of you!!! There should be some good polish sales tomorrow! If you guys find anything good, I'd love to know what you got!!

Polish Jewelry!

2011-11-22T05:58:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone! As some of you may have seen, there is a lot of beautiful jewelry out there made with nail polish. I think this trend is so cool and pretty, I decided to try some out on my own! The basic gist of this, is painting a clear glass bead (known as a cabochon) with the polish of your choice. You then have to find a backing for whatever type of jewelry you are going to make and glue the two pieces together. It's pretty much that simple! It can get much more complex by layering polishes, or stamping, or adding gems...the possibilities are endless! I just wanted to share a few of the pieces I have made. I am thinking about opening an Etsy shop, so please let me know if this is the type of thing you'd be interested in purchasing!

Mermaid Holo Glitter Ring/Pendant

Mermaid Holo Glitter Franken Ring/Pendant

Golden Rose Scale Effects 02 Over Purple Ring/Pendant

Black Holo Glitter Ring/Pendant

Purple Glitter/Flakie/Holo Ring/Pendant

OPI DS Glamour Earrings

Zoya Charla Earrings

Ozotic 528 Earrings

Millionaire Earrings

What the earrings would look like in real life (Millionaire)

Your comments and suggestions are welcome!

Picture Polish Wisteria!

2011-11-21T12:25:00.000-08:00

Hi there! I recently got in a few new Ozotics and a new picture polish! This is "Wisteria". It's such a PRETTY purple. I love it!!! It's like more of a lilac color, and it's pretty bright! It is actually unlike any other purple I have, which is saying a lot because I have a ton of purples! So, here she is with 2 coats!

As you can see, depending on the light it can look more pinker, or more purpley-er, but either way, it's pretty!!

Picture Polish polishes can be purchased from the Picture Polish Website, or through Llarowe's website!

Glitter Madness!

2011-11-20T19:16:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone!! I finally ventured out and found some supply stores in my area. (FINALLY. I seriously was going through withdraw). I didn't have a lot of time to look around when I went (just an excuse to go back), but I was able to grab some of the China Glaze new holiday glitters. Today I am going to share my favorite one, which is: "Marry a Millionaire". It's purple and teal glitter overload... tiny glitter, bar glitter, it's just an amazing party in a bottle! This is 3 coats with only a clear base underneath:

I know this is dark, but I LOVE how it shows the colors!!

Overall, I think the next time I wear this polish I am going to layer it. It provided pretty full coverage, but I want no nail to be seen. Regardless, I love it!

Rich Color, Holographics and Glitter, Oh my!

2011-11-16T22:29:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! Today I was perusing a local Ross store, and was lucky enough to stumble across the Color Club "Beyond the Mistletoe" collection. It's a collection of all incredible glitter polishes! So awesome! Anyway, I already had on my nails one of my sprankens. It was the deep red wine colored one... for now I am referring to it as, "Carlos Rossi Wine Jug". I really love the way it turned out! Here is two coats:

Woo hoo! I am really proud of that one!

Here are some swatches of the "Beyond the Mistletoe" collection:

Beyond the Mistletoe, Holiday Splendor, Sugarplum Fairy, Gingerbread, Candy Cane, Jingle Jangle

I was so excited to try these so I immediately put "Candy Cane" over "Carlos Rossi Wine Jug" and I will let the result speak for itself!

It is glitter madness overload! I can't wait to try all of these!!! :)

New Spranken Collection!

2011-11-15T23:29:00.000-08:00

Howdy-do, folks?! I know my posting has been pretty much non-existent, but I really can't stress how busy I have been. Nov - Feb is such a busy time for me at work. I just spent all of last week in Indianapolis working, and came back on Sunday night, and right back to work on Monday. (I did, however, take several polishes with me to keep a variety of colors throughout the week! The hotel maids probably were like wtf is all this polish on the desk!?)

Annnnnyway, I have been a frankening fiend lately!! I don't know what it is about creating polishes, but I just love it!! Here is a little collection I created!

Ever wonder what an un-mixed spranken looks like?

There you have it! I am thinking about making up some more of these and selling them. They all got a pretty good response from my friends in the nail polish groups on facebook. I really enjoy making sprankens and it would be fun to share them with other nail polish lovers!!

Hope you all are having a great week!! :)

P.S. All photos were taken with my iPhone 4S... not bad I think!

Late night polish action!

2011-11-05T23:19:00.001-07:00

What to do when it's late and you aren't tired? Make nail polish!!! :) I am calling this "Little Ditty"! You can make it too! Here is what I used:

Love & Beauty Aqua, Indigo, Midnight, and ULTA Happy Hour

Happy Creating!! :)

Teeez!

2011-11-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!! This polish instantly fell into my top 10 favorites. I received it in a swap with the famous "Kati of the Netherlands", and boy was she good to me!!! This is a polish from the Teeez collection, and it's called: "Outta Control 01". It's a medium purple holographic polish, and it is freaking amazing!!!!!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend!!

Grape Set Match & Servin' Up Sparkle!

2011-10-28T08:21:00.001-07:00

Happy Friday fellow nail polish lovers! I hope you all have had a great week, and an awesome weekend planned!

I have had OPI's Grape Set Match/Servin' Up Sparkle Duo since it came out, and FINALLY used it for the first time. What was I waiting for!?!? I'll never know, but better late than never, I suppose! "Grape Set Match" is an amazing purple polish. It's a medium/darkish shade of purple, but has this pink and blue sheen to it that is just glorious. This color is incredible on its own. But, it's partnered with its sister polish, "Servin' Up Sparkle". This is more of a top coat. It is a clear base with small holographic glitter and larger hex holographic glitter throughout. This could obviously top a myriad of colors, but it does look especially nice over "Grape Set Match". OPI won with this duo, that's for sure!

Ozotic 515

2011-10-27T08:00:00.001-07:00

Hey guys! Happy Thursday! Almost Friday!! Woo Hoo!! :) Today I want to share with you an amazing blue holographic polish: Ozotic "515". The Ozotic holographic polishes are AAAAMMMMAAAZZZIIINNNGGG!!!! And, the best part is, the application is flawless. No dragging. No bald spots. Just gorgeous, even color in two coats. I used OPI Nail Envy as a base for this and Seche Vite top coat. The holo-ness wasn't dulled at all. Seriously, I want to go back and get all of these holo polishes! They can be purchased from Australia at the Picture Polish website, or even better for us Americans, from Llarowe's site.

With flash

After I wore this for two days, I decided to paint the tips. I used a Love & Beauty polish I picked up from Forever 21 the other day called: "Black/Fuchsia". It's an opaque black polish packed full of fuchsia micro glitter.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!

Halloween Giveaway Winner!

2011-10-25T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I have picked the winner of my Halloween Giveaway! Here are the results:

Congratulations, NinjaLKM!

I hope all of you have a great and spooky Halloween!! :)

Another contender for a purple flakey!

2011-10-16T00:35:00.003-07:00

Hi guys! First things first. I just got the new iPhone 4s! So far, I love it! There is a blogger app which I am testing out right now. So, this whole post is being done via cell phone. Second, the pics I am using in the post are taken with the iPhone camera. I am curious to see how this camera fares!

So, I recently did another swap with the famous Kati of the Netherlands. I love doing swaps with her, and will have more posts in the future of polishes she sent me! For this post, I want to show you a polish by the brand "Koh". The name of this color is: "Purple Universe!". It's so pretty, and as soon as I saw it I immediately thought "Fowl Play/Merry Midnight" alert!!! It is a little more sheer than the other two, but after about 3-4 coats, it is a pretty good dupe! See for yourselves:

Koh, Merry Midnight, Fowl Play

Ok I am on my computer now. Had to adjust the pic size and add a caption, but other than that, everything was done via the iPhone! I am impressed!

Have a great rest of your weekend, everyone!! :)

Oh My Ozotic!!

2011-10-13T07:30:00.004-07:00

Hey guys! I'm sure many of you have seen posts about various Ozotic Pro polishes. I actually posted one a few weeks ago about a polish that my friend Karin had given to me. These polishes are really great!! I was lucky enough to purchase some recently, and I've gotta be honest... these are turning out to be some of my favorite polishes ever! First of the lot is Ozotic Pro 528. This is a multi-chrome glitter polish meant to be layered over a solid color.

I started with Ibizia from Zoya. This color on its own is awesome!!! This is the first time I have used it, and I seriously love it!! It's a GREAT dark shimmery blue. I love that even though it is so dark, you can still tell it's blue. This polish is pretty much a one coater, although I did two in these pics just to be sure there weren't any weird streaks. A great formula, and another Zoya winner in my book! (When are they not!?)

After that dried, I added Ozotic Pro 528. I love, love, love the effect this polish gives!! It goes from teal, to purple with maybe little bits of red? It is just so awesome, and I'll let the pics do the talking! :)


Zoya Ibizia ..... We're going to Ibizia... Whoa!..Back to the Island... a little Venga Boys, anyone?

Ozotic 528 with flash

Have a good day everybody!

Another Spectra-Franken... A Spranken?

2011-10-12T06:00:00.001-07:00

Hiiiiii everyone!!!! Oh my goodness it's been a long time. I feel like I am never home or on the computer anymore! Life in Cali is great, but I am so busy and it's like I am only home to sleep! I am going to fix that though! I feel like I've lost my blogging mojo! I just got a bunch of new polishes though, so it's back!

I recently threw together another franken. This is a mix of Orly Velvet Rope and Sally Hansen Black Out. I added some coarse grade Spectra Flair pigment to it, and voila! I don't really name my frankens, but maybe I should start? Anyway, I really like this one, and I do like the coarse grade powder. I don't know that I notice that much of a difference from the finer grade pigment, but I can tell the particles are a little bigger. Anyway, here it is! :)


With Flash

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!

Halloween Giveaway!

2011-10-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I picked up these polishes a few weeks ago for a Halloween Giveaway! They are so cute with their tombstone shapes, and fun Halloween colors!

Rules:

1) You must be 18 years of age or older, or have your parents permission to enter and give out your address

2) You must be a public follower of my blog via GFC - new followers always welcome!

3) This is open to everyone around the world!

4) This giveaway will close on Sunday, October 23, 2011 11:59 pm PST.

I am keeping this simple, so everyone gets one entry! I will try to get these to you before Halloween!

Haunting

2011-09-30T07:00:00.001-07:00

Hi guys! So Halloween is fast approaching, and many of the manufacturers have released some sort of Halloween collection. I have picked up various ones from here and there, so today I am going to share 'Haunting' by China Glaze. It's a black polish with silver glitter. Easily opaque in two coats, this is a fun alternative to a straight black polish.

Thanks for stopping by!

I Can Haz Internetz?!?

2011-09-27T22:25:00.000-07:00

Heyyyy there everyone!!! I FINALLY have internet set up in my new place! So I could FINALLY pick the winner of my 500 Follower Giveaway! I apologize for the delay!! Moving totally got in the way of my nail polish life! But I'm set up and ready to get back in the groove! So first things first... the winner!

Congratulations to Amber! I have e-mailed her letting her know. If I don't hear back within a reasonable time I will pick a new winner.

So onto other things! I have put up my polish racks!! Now mind you, these pictures aren't the best, and the polishes aren't fully sorted. I will put up better pics when I take some... but this is officially my new favorite part of my apartment!

I will have some new posts up soon and I actually picked up some polishes for another "spooky" giveaway! I love Halloween!!! :) :) :)

Hope you all are doing well and I am looking forward to getting back into my blogging groove!!

Tic Tac Friday!

2011-09-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday everybody!! I mentioned this brand, Tic Tac, in a previous post, and I recently picked up a few more polishes by them. They are pretty cheap and I really like them!!! Some of their polishes have actual names, and some are just numbers. Some polishes have the same number, but are two different colors. I don't know how organized they really are, but eh.... I don't really care. If I like the color, I grab it :) The one I am showing you all today is called 'Blue Sky'. It's a pale, pastel blue, and I don't have another polish of a similar color! These can be somewhat streaky in application, but usually the third coat has everything evened out. Just make sure you let the coats dry in between applications. :) This is 3 coats of 'Blue Sky', and no top coat!

Have a great Friday and weekend everyone!!!

Battle of the Purple Multi-Colored Flakies

2011-09-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! So! As I'm sure many of you know, Orly recently came out with a new collection called 'Birds of a Feather'. I posted about a color called 'Sweet Peacock' a few weeks ago, and today I'm going to share with you the other color I purchased from this collection. It's called 'Fowl Play', and has been deemed a dupe of the hard to find OPI "Merry Midnight". I'd have to say I agree. I am fortunate enough to own both of these, so below are pictures of both the OPI and Orly version of this lovely color. It's a dark purple jelly polish full of multi-colored flakie pieces. In the pictures below I have two coats of each. 'Merry Midnight' is rare to come across, but you can always try ebay or swapping with someone. I picked up 'Fowl Play' at Ulta, so that is probably your best bet to find it. Otherwise, it is probably available online somewhere. I really like this polish A LOT, so I don't mind owning both!!

Merry Midnight

Fowl Play

I think these are similar enough that you don't need to own both. This is especially helpful since the OPI version is nearly impossible to find. Can you guys tell a difference?

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great day!!

Pink Wednesday! DS Reserve

2011-09-14T07:37:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Happy Hump Day! I am so happy this week is half over!! It just means I am closer to the weekend which means I am moving into my new place in California!!!!! :) :) :) Today for Pink Wed, I have OPI DS Reserve to share! It's a nice coral-ly pink with scattered bits of holographic glitter. The formula was great, and this is two coats!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!! :)

The Best Gift Ever!

2011-09-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks!!! In yesterday's post, I mentioned my dear friend Karin. She is someone I met through the nail polish facebook community. We decided to meet up one day and go polish shopping, and the rest is history! I love hanging out with her, getting our sushi lunches (even though the place we went to stopped selling sushi!!!!!), and shopping for nail polish! You should totally check out her blog!

On Sunday when we met up, she totally surprised me with one of the best gifts I've ever received. It is a polish that I have been wanting for SO LONG, but never coughed up the $ for. It is an AMAZING purple, holographic polish. It is, Ozotic Pro 513. OOOOOOMMMMMGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!! My jaw hit the floor when she gave it to me. So Karin, thank you, from the bottom of my heart!!! I will miss you when I'm moved, but I know I'll be seeing you in CaLi!!!!!!!

Ok, so, about this polish. First, the color. It's incredible. It's a great shade of purple. Not too red based, and not too blue based. The holographic qualities of it are amazing. It is linear and bright and vibrant. But, the most important thing of all... it applies like a dream!!! None of the streaking or dragging some OTHER holographic polishes have. Nope, it just goes on, smooth as BUTTAH!!!!!! Two coats of pure joy!

Thanks for reading! :)

I'm back!!

2011-09-12T08:44:00.000-07:00

Holy moly it's been a bajillion years!!!!!! I hate having gone this long without posting, but my life has been crazy these past few weeks!! I packed up my whole apartment and drove halfway across the country, only to unload everything into a storage unit. All of my polishes (except for a few) are in storage (which was BY FAR, my heaviest box!!!!). I spent the weekend in California at a friend's place, and then flew back here, to IL to train my replacement. I've been living out of a hotel for the past week, and will be in one until Friday! Then I fly back to Cali and have to unload everything from the storage unit into a truck, and then FINALLY move into my new place on Saturday! WHEW! I can't wait for all this moving crap to be OVER! I purchased quite a few nail polish racks, so when I finally have my "Wall of Polish" set up, I'll be sure to share it with you guys! It's like artwork to me!

Yesterday, I spent the day in the city with Karin visiting some supply shops. I am so glad the polish community brought us together. I am really going to miss her!!! She gave me a special surprise polish that was a late birthday present / good luck living in your new place present. I can't wait to share it with you.... it's amazing!!!! :) But anyway, I picked up a few polishes yesterday so I will have lots of goodies to share with you this week!!

Today I have two polishes I picked up from the Orly Mineral FX collection. Overall I liked the collection, but only two of the colors really spoke to me. I got these at Sally Beauty... it seems like they are in pretty limited quantities, so if you like any of them, I suggest going out and getting them ASAP!

First up is Rock Solid. It's a shimmery, steel gray color with scattered holographic glitter throughout. Two coats achieved full opaqueness, and the formula applied really well for me. I really enjoy this color!

Second, is a color called Rococo A-Go-Go. It's a gorgeous shimmery dark plum color, with a gold-ish duo chrome and pink sparkles. It applied like a dream, and could be a one coater. I did two for good measure. It's SO pretty. I will be wearing this color a TON, I can tell.

Thanks for stopping by, and I won't be gone for that long again!! :)

Sweet Peacock Friday!

2011-08-26T07:24:00.000-07:00

Howdy Folks! I can't believe it's Friday already, and the last Friday in August, to boot!! Where has Summer gone?! The upside is... well there are two upsides. One upside is that now that Fall is here we can start reaching for the new Fall colors. Not to say there has to be a certain time of year to wear a certain color, but there is just something about the smell of pumpkin and spices in the air, leaves changing colors on the trees, and darker, smokier colors on one's nails. The second upside, is that even though Fall is coming, I will not be stuck dealing with another winter of cold, snow, and ice!!! :) And for that, I am grateful!

Today I have a color from Orly's Birds of a Feather collection. I only picked up two polishes from this collection, Fowl Play, and Sweet Peacock. I am excited to use Fowl Play, (and compare it to Merry Midnight), but last night I decided to wear Sweet Peacock. And I am so glad I did. It. Is. Gorgeous. It's one of the most amazing blue foils with micro glitter I have ever seen. I have most of my nail polish packed already, but I'm anxious to compare this to Swimsuit... Nailed It! from the OPI Miss Universe collection. Anyway, it was a little streaky upon first coat. Like if you put polish down, and then went back over that section, it would totally drag the first layer of nail polish off. If you can work fast and not repeat sections too much on the first coat, you'll be fine, and the second coat applies wonderfully and hides any mishaps from the first go-round. Topped with Seche Vite and it was dry in a few minutes! Off to bed I went, and no sheet marks in the morning! Now that is a good start to Friday!

Have a great weekend!!

Zoya Yummy!

2011-08-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!! I know it's been forever, but I have been SO busy. This move is seriously sucking the life out of me!! Last Friday I flew out to CA to find a place to live. Trying to move from across the country is hard enough, but trying to do it in a weekend is even harder. I had such a frustrating time because I couldn't afford the places I wanted to live in, but really hated all the ones I could. I live in a really nice one bedroom apartment now, and was so disappointed that I had to give up space/amenities/location to be able to afford to live out there. I knew CA was going to be expensive, but I just didn't think it was going to be THAT BAD. So, I had a somewhat emotionally draining weekend, but finally found a place that I'm really happy with and will make it work! I am back in IL for now, and on Monday I start the trek out west!

When I got back, I had some Zoya polishes waiting for me that I had purchased during the promotion. The majority of the colors were from the Smoke & Mirrors collection, but one of them happened to be a bright medium blue by the name of 'Yummy'. Since it's still August and summer, I figured I may as well try that one first!! I am so glad I did because it seriously is SUCH a pretty blue creme color. The first coat was a tad streaky, but the second coat evened it all out and was fully opaque. I've read that Seche Vite top coat does not mix well with Zoya polishes, but I chanced it last night, and thankfully had no problems! No bubbling, not so bad shrinkage, and it all dried relatively quickly. I wonder if the shimmer or glitter polishes are the ones that don't play nice?

How to: Franken! (My way, anyway!)

2011-08-18T07:00:00.004-07:00

Hi there!! I am very/super/overly excited for this post. I really like making nail polishes. Whether it's just mixing a few together, or using a pigment, or adding spectra flair, I just find it a lot of fun, and really rewarding! I wanted to share with you step by step how I go about doing this. Hopefully it will give you all some ideas or inspiration to create your own masterpiece. If you do, please be sure to share it!! I love seeing what people come up with!

Ok, so let's get on with it! This is going to be pretty long and picture heavy, so I will put a break in for those not interested in seeing my mad scientist ~~skills~~ skillz. First, here is a picture of my workspace:

A little crazy and messy, but hey, that's how I roll. On the left hand side I have some various pigments and polishes. I have a bag of ball bearings (fondly known as ballz), and some spectra flair powder. The ballz are used to aid the mixing process. They can fly and woosh through the polish and mix up all of the beautiful powders and lacquers. I have some blank nails on a nail wheel for testing (you can see my purple holo from a few posts back). I also have some straws and napkins and a magazine to work over so I don't get stuff all over my desk. And last, but most certainly not least, an empty bottle!

Empty bottle of Sally Hansen clear polish.

Added two ballz to my empty bottle

Now is the point you need to decide what you want to make. What color are you going for? Do you want to make a holographic polish? A glitter one? Both? I decided to try mixing an eye shadow pigment with some Glorious Top Coat. (Glorious Top Coat = Spectra Flair powder already mixed with a clear polish). Here is the pigment I chose:

This is a pigment from Beauty From The Earth. It's a dark charcoal powder with fine blue glitter mixed in throughout. I'm not sure how much of an opportunity I'd have to wear this as eye shadow (don't get me wrong, I totally would, but I mostly just use dark non sparkly colors... I don't like fall out), but I thought it'd make an awesome nail polish!!

Next, I made a scoop out of the end of a straw.

As you can see, I didn't start with very much pigment at all. It's very easy to saturate the lacquer with pigment which results in a very clumpy, thick, paste like texture, which does not look so nice on the nails!

Added the pigment to the empty bottle

Here is my bottle with pigment next to the Glorious Top Coat. I want you to see the ratio I used for mixing this. You can compare this to the next picture.

You can see about how much I poured from the Glorious Top Coat into my franken. This is before I shook the life out of my franken.

After shaking!


Added some more Glorious to my franken


It's hard to tell from the picture, but this was really watery. Need to thicken it up!

One coat on a nail.

Two coats on a nail.


Added more pigment and shook it like a polaroid picture!

This is two coats of the original mixture on the left, two in the middle after I added a little bit more pigment, and two coats on the right, after I added even more pigment. I like that the polish is a dark charcoal color and you can still see the blue flash of sparkle! At this point I used my straw scoop and added the same amount of spectra flair powder as I did with my original amount of pigment.

Indoor lighting, no flash. Charcoal color with flash of blue sparkle.

Indoor lighting with flash.. HELLO HOLO!!!

I really like this picture, because you can see that while the polish is holo, it still has the blue sparkle flash in the middle!

I decided I wanted a little more blue, so I added some of this polish. This picture is pretty true to color. It's a Color Club polish, but I don't know the name of it because it came from a set from Ross. Unfortunately on that packaging, there are no names! It's a beautiful royal blue, though!!

Here it is mixed with the blue polish. It doesn't look much different.

Swatched on my nails! Love it!!

I really like that even when it's not in direct light and doesn't have the holographic bling to it, that it is still a nice polish!

So I know this was a jillion and one pictures, but I hope you guys liked it!! Again, if you decide to create something of your own, please post a link in the comments, I'd love to see it!! Thanks for reading and have a great day, guys!! :)

Pink Wesnesday

2011-08-17T07:18:00.000-07:00

Howdy do folks! It's time for another round of Pink Wednesday!! Two weeks ago I went to get a pedicure. They had the usual selection of OPI and China Glaze polishes, and I picked some pink color. As the girl started my pedicure, she was telling me about these polishes that are made by the salon (which was called Nail Perfection). Made by the salon...really?? She told me they had a really cute baby pink color that was very popular, and made skin look really tan. I was intrigued enough to tell her I'd try that color instead of whatever I picked out.

Turns out this brand is called Tic Tac. The polish applied pretty badly. It was very streaky and had terrible cuticle drag. Luckily, the nail technician knew what she was doing, and by the end, I LOVED the color! I asked her if they sold the polish there and they, did, and charged $7 for it. They didn't have any for sale of the color I got though. She mentioned her boss going back to get more from the supply shop, and I figured the boss HAD to be going to the Chicago supply stores that I visit myself! She tried to sell me a different color, and I *almost* gave in, but thought better of it. Lo and behold, I walked into the supply store in Chicago and there was an ENTIRE wall display of Tic Tac polishes for $1.20!!!!!!!!!! Yes, one dollar and twenty cents. So needless to say I purchased a few! Some colors were not so good and I'll do a blog post at a later date, but some of them were great, like the one I am going to share with you today!

The application was a little streaky at first, but after 3 coats, I thought looked pretty good! It dries REALLY fast, and I like this color! The bottle is labeled as "222". Some of the polishes have names, and some are just numbers. So overall, it's not the best formula or quality, but I think it's just right for the price and color selection. I will for sure be picking some more of these up!

With flash

This is the truest to color... it's actually a little more pink than this. The camera made it pull really purple for some reason.

Thanks for reading and Happy Pink Wednesday!! :)

Mad Scientist

2011-08-16T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Last night I was sitting amidst boxes, having taken a break from packing, and decided my creative juices were flowing. I had one mini empty bottle left and some spectra flair and some polishes sitting out on my coffee table so I decided to get to work. I had a mini bottle of Orly Velvet Rope staring me in the face. I have a full size of this color too, so I decided to pour about half of the mini bottle into an empty mini. I had some spectra flair mixed with a clear polish (that can be used as a top coat) and poured some of that into the mix. I then added some spectra flair powder and the color got somewhat muddy (as spectra flair tends to make polishes when added) so I then added in some OPI DS signature. I wanted it a little darker, so I added some China Glaze Black Diamond. I then topped it off with a little more Velvet Rope and this is basically what I came up with!

I like it! I just wish I had some sunlight to take pics in! That's what you get for working at night, I guess! :) Thanks for reading!!

500 Follower Giveaway

2011-08-15T08:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!! I know it has been forever, but I'm back!! I have some MAJOR swatching to do, as I have acquired quite a few new nail polishes!! I am so excited to share them with you! But first, I just want to take a moment to say thank you to each and every one of you! It means the world to me that you chose to follow my blog, and to say thanks, I wanted to have another giveaway! One collection that I really liked was the Orly Happy Go Lucky one. Each polish has a great formula, and the colors are great too. They are fun and vibrant, and I think you should all have them as well! :) Also, I'm throwing in an OPI DS Signature. This is one of the most gorgeous holographic polishes I own, and it's pretty hard to come by these days. I picked up a brand new one in my recent shopping adventures and wanted to share the wealth! So good luck to you all, and thank you again!!!

Rules:

1) You must be 18 years of age or older, or have your parents permission to enter and give out your address

2) You must be a public follower of my blog via GFC - new followers always welcome!

3) This is open to everyone around the world!

4) This giveaway will close on Friday, September 16, 2011 11:59 pm CST.

Gain extra entries by blogging about my giveaway and adding me to your blog roll!

Twilight

2011-08-09T07:30:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone! Right now it's 11:49 pm and I am blogging from my bed in my hotel room!! Thank the baby Jesus for free internet!!! I want to show you guys my last Joe Fresh polish. I received this in a swap with Kayla from Beauty by Kayla Shevonne ! You should check out her blog, she has some great comparison swatches! And thanks for the swap! :)

Twilight is a black jelly polish with iridescent green/orange/yellow flakies in it. It is a really cool polish! You could achieve a similar look by painting Nubar 2010 or Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over a black polish, but this is all mixed into one! This is three coats. I will for sure be wearing this color this winter!

Hopefully I will have free internet at the next hotel and will be able to post again!! Have a great day everyone!! <3 you guys!

More Joe Fresh Swatches

2011-08-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! I have some more Joe Fresh polishes to share today! Again, this is brand only available in Canada. I received these in a swap with Alyssa, a girl from the facebook nail polish group! I really love doing swaps!! :)

This is Persian Blue. Opaque in two coats, it is a dark, dusty teal color. I really like it and will be wearing it come Fall!

This is Orchid. A really pretty dark mauvey-purple. Another Fall color in my opinion, and also great for the Fall season! (And, purples are my FAV!)

This last one is Peacock. It's a gorgeous dusty teal-blue-black color. It shines beautifully, and again, is a great Fall color!! I am a total summer person, but I'm actually looking forward to Fall!!

I am traveling for work starting this afternoon, so if I don't post this week please don't hate me! :)

300 Follower Giveaway Winner!!

2011-08-08T09:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody!!! Just wanted to announce the winner of my giveaway!!

*drum roll*

Shaina from Haute Lacquer !!!! Congratulations!! :)

Stay tuned for my 500 Follower Giveaway! I have some really great polishes for you guys! I am traveling for business this week, so I'll get the new giveaway posted next week!! Thanks to all of you for supporting my blog!!

Franken Friday

2011-08-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Here is another one of my franken creations! It's like a smoky purple color with hologram-my goodness! Honestly, I can't remember what I used to make this... it started using some Glamor Doll Eyes pigment, and got so thick and paste-like. So I split that mixture into 3 empty bottles and started adding various polish to get it to something I actually liked!

OPI DS Signature

2011-08-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

Ok....so I know I just posted. But I had to post this as well because it's so stinkin' pretty! So yesterday I had on Misa's 'Hot People Like You'. It is a really pretty hot shiny pink, but after 3 coats I still had visible nail line, which is not cool with me. Sooooo, to jazzy it up, I decided to slap some OPI DS Signature over it. And I'm so glad I did. It's so purdy!!!!!! :)

Hot People Like You sans OPI DS Signature

You can see the visible nail line on my pointer really well

Hot People Like You with Signature on top!

LOVE

More Frankens!?

2011-08-04T06:47:00.000-07:00

Morning everybody! I wanted to do a quick post with some more polishes I "frankened". I really like creating polishes, whether it's just adding some glitter or SpectraFlair, or combining colors... it's a lot of fun and really neat to see how things turn out!

This is a combination of Orly's Black Out and some SpectraFlair. It's tough to make a good black holo because any time you add the holo powder, it automatically lightens whatever polish it's in, and turns it sort of dusty/murky. This isn't as dark as I'd like, but I love it none-the-less!

Thanks for reading!

Franken Pink Wednesday

2011-08-03T07:09:00.003-07:00

Hey everybody!!! It's time for another edition of PINK WEDNESDAY!!!!!!! Yes, it's half way through the week, and yes, I am writing with lots of exclamation points. Normally I would feel blah and tired because it's half way through a work week, and I am teaching band camp every night after work until 9 this week, so I should be EXTRA tired, but an iced-quadruple shot-venti-non-fat caramel macchiato from Starbucks FIXED THAT RIGHT UP! (That I got for free with a birthday coupon!!!!!!!!!) <-- That gets LOTS of exclamations! :)

So my pink for today is one that I made! A few months ago when everyone heard about SpectraFlair, and the make-your-own-holo craze was going on, I was one of the many who jumped on the bandwagon! I ordered some empty mini polish bottles from ebay, and got to work! This pink started from a clear coat mixed with some pigment I got from Inglot, I believe. It was super think and chunky, so I started splitting that into smaller bottles and then adding darker pinks and reds, and the powder, of course, and this is what I ended up with! I don't have a name for it, but here is two coats of it!

Thanks for reading and I hope you have a high energy Wednesday!! :)

Fresh Tuesday

2011-08-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Today I have for you some special polishes! They are by a brand known as Joe Fresh, and as far as I am aware, only available in Canada. I am fortunate enough to have made some friends outside of the US since having ventured into the beauty/nail polish world, and have participated in a few swaps! It's always a lot of fun to get to try products that aren't accessible, and even better to get to know other beauty lovers in the process! The polishes I am showing today I received in a swap with the lovely Rebecca of Rebecca Likes Nails! She has a fabulous blog and does some amazing things with nail polish!

First up is Fuchsia. This is a bright, vibrant pink color, and opaque in two coats.

This is Faded Violet. It's a light, dusty lilac color, also opaque in two coats.

Last up is Gunmetal. Also opaque in two coats... this color is awesome. It's a dark, steel gray loaded with shimmer. I think it will be great for the Fall season, and I'm so glad I have it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Giveaway Winners!

2011-07-29T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I just wanted to make a quick announcement! Using random.org I picked the two winners of my 200 Follower Giveaway! Prize 1 is going to Rachel Arthur, and Prize 2 is going to TrailerHood Chic! Congratulations to you both!! Don't forget my 300 Follower Giveaway is still going, and I am planning a big 500 Follower Giveaway! Thank you to each and every one of you for following my blog and sharing in the love of nail polish!

Still Kickin'!!!

2011-07-29T12:49:00.000-07:00

Holy moly everybody! It's been a while! Last Saturday I left for San Antonio for a business trip. It went great, and I LOVE TX! It was my first time there, and I seriously have a thing for San Antonio. I got to explore the Riverwalk and visit the Alamo... it was great!

The Riverwalk

I got back yesterday and am trying to get back in the swing of things. I have another business trip the second week of August, and then, I'm moving to California the last week... if I am not around for a while, please forgive me! I just have a lot going on during the month of August, and planning this move across the country is not helping my stress level!

Today I wanted to share with you a crazy tape design based off of a previous color I had already shown you. Last week I had on Electric Pineapple from China Glaze, and before I took that color off I decided to expand on it a little bit. I added stripes of 108 Degrees and Senorita Bonita (both by China Glaze and also from the Island Escape Collection) over the Electric Pineapple and thought it made for a fun, funky wallpaper looking design!

Natural Light

Artificial Light

Thanks for reading! :)

Black Magic Friday

2011-07-22T08:27:00.002-07:00

Happy Friday everybody! Have you ever walked into a store, saw a polish that looked absolutely GORGEOUS in the bottle, and bought it on the spot? Then, when you get home, so eager to paint the glorious beauty on your nails, experience utter disappointment? The polish is thin and almost invisible, and you feel as though you might as well have painted water on your nails? Well, this post is for you, my friend! All hope may not be lost! There is a well known trick/secret amongst the nail polish community, and that, is black nail polish. Yep, that's it! Just black lacquer! It doesn't have to be anything fancy, in fact, the cheaper [as long as it is opaque in two coats] the better, because the black is just the catalyst for your poor, sad nail polish to show it's true pop of color! Duo/Multi Chromes really benefit from the black polish trick. You can usually see every facet of color over black, and it really makes each shade stand out depending on the angle of your nails.

Here are some examples of how black can transform different colors of polish. Unfortunately I don't have swatches of all of these colors on their own... I can make a swatch wheel for you, or you can google the colors and will mostly likely be able to see how they fare on their own two feet. I love looking at these pictures and seeing the magic transformation of colors that, on their own, are nothing special, but when layered over black, become a magic, enchanting display of razzle-dazzling beauty.

Flash

(1) Essence Holographic 03 Blueray (2) Pure Ice Busted (3) Pure Ice Spitfire (4) OPI Sugar Plum Yum (5) Golden Rose Scale Effects 14 (6) Kleancolor Starry Meteor (7) Kleancolor Silver Star (8) Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black (9) Kleancolor Chunky Holo Purple (10) Color Club Magic Attraction (11) Color Club Wild & Willing (12) Misa Mega Margarita (13) Misa Denim & Lace (14) Orly Rock Candy (15) Sally Hansen DVD


No Flash

This is very picture heavy, so if you want to see more, click below!

Electric Pineapple

2011-07-21T08:06:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone! Today I have for you a color from China Glaze's Island Escape collection. I received it in a swap with the awesome Gaby from Pretty Edgy Nails. She is super amazing and you should check her blog out! :) It's called 'Electric Pineapple', and is a yellow-green creme color. It's similar to OPI's 'Fiercely Fiona', but a little more to the green side. It's a bright pop of color on the nails, and while it may be a bit... boogery, I actually really like it! It's not as bright neon as a yellow highlighter like some colors are; it's a bit more subdued, but still fun and summery! Sorry I don't have pics of the bottle... Here is two coats:

Artificial Light

Pink Wednesday, Already?!

2011-07-20T07:23:00.002-07:00

Man! Time is just flying by! I wanted to do something different this go-around, so I thought I'd try a gradient, sponging design. Basically, you grab a few polishes that are different shades of the same color. You can start with the darkest color or the lightest color, and then you stamp on the other colors over it to get a somewhat blended gradient of color and your nail should look like the colors fade into one other. Or, that's my impression of this look at least. I started with OPI 'Mod About You'. First time I've used this color, and I really like it! I think it's going to be a color I'm going to get a lot of use out of because it's work appropriate and since I will soon be working out of my company's main office, it will probably come in handy!

I then used the corner of a makeup wedge to stamp on OPI 'Princess' Rule'. You can't even see it in the pictures, and quite honestly, this polish could have been eliminated from this look completely. All it contributes is a very subtle "glow" from underneath the next two layers of polish. The third color I used was OPI 'Strawberry Margarita'. The last color I sponged with is OPI 'Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em'.

When all was said and done, I really like how this ended up looking. Maybe not the perfect gradient, but I think it looks cool none-the-less! I'll update with the name of the third polish tonight!

Before cleanup - you can see how the sponging can get on the areas around your nail

Taking pictures in the direct sunlight makes my cuticles look horrible and macro doesn't help. I wasn't going to use this picture, but the color looks awesome!

Tara's 300 Follower Giveaway!

2011-07-19T15:12:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!! I know I still have my 200 Follower giveaway open, but since I'm almost out of the 300s, I wanted to do another one! This one is smaller, but I think the prizes are pretty good! I will have just one winner this time, but I'm gearing up for the 400 Follower Giveaway, so stay tuned! Thank you as always for supporting my blog. It means a lot to me, and I really enjoy sharing my passion of polish with you! I love reading your comments and appreciate everything you say! So, thank you again!!

Rules:

1) You must be 18 years of age or older, or have your parents permission to enter and give out your address

2) You must be a public follower of my blog via GFC - new followers always welcome!

3) This is open to everyone around the world!

4) This giveaway will close on Sunday, August 7th, 2011 11:59 pm CST.

Gain extra entries by blogging about my giveaway and adding me to your blog roll!

No More Waity, Katie

2011-07-19T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Last night I was looking through colors I haven't used yet, and I realized I hadn't tried Butter London's 'No More Waity, Katie'. I got it from Ulta in the kit that had the polish and a mini bottle of polish remover (which I haven't tried because of the horror stories I've heard about it smelling like old lady perfume!). 'No More Waity, Katie' was created in celebration of the royal wedding. It's a gray/dusty/purple color with purple glitter. It's a sort of jelly polish, and the glitter suspends itself throughout, so the polish looks like it has a lot of depth to it. The formula on this wasn't all that great... it was really sheer at first, which was fine, and after the second/third coat was much better. The problem I had was it didn't spread across the nail that easily, which made it really difficult for me to get coverage on the sides of my nail. As I tried to spread the polish all the way to the edge, it just got on my skin instead. I don't know if the glitter got in the way, but the brush just wouldn't flatten and spread the polish out the way I needed it to. Also, the cleanup with this was frustrating. I dip a small brush in acetone and can usually clean up around my cuticles pretty easily. The glitter on this didn't want to budge and I still have spots of glitter around my nail. I like the color, but it's not my favorite.

I was kind of bored with this color on its own, so I decided to spice it up a little bit. I really LOVE Octa-Gone-Wild so I did a diagonal scotch tape design and spiced things up a bit.

Thanks for reading!

I'm Back!

2011-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Happy Monday!! I am back from my mini vacay, and it was JAM PACKED! I arrived Thursday night, and Brooke picked me up from the airport. We had dinner at my aunts and I got to see my cousin, Carla, which was so awesome! Hi Carla!! :) Love you and miss you already!

The next day Brooke and I met up with Traci from The Trace Face Philes, and Cassandra from The Manilogues! We went to a bunch of supply stores in Philly, and it was awesome!! It was so nice to meet up with fellow bloggers and get some good deals on polish!

On Saturday I got to see all of my mom's side of my family! We all went out to dinner to celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday! It was a lot of fun, and I got to hang with my cousins... Hi Tommy, Kristina, and Karla!!!! <3 The next day my family drove up to CT to visit more family. I got to see my other grandmother and more cousins and aunts and uncles (Can you tell I'm Italian!?) and it was so great to see everyone. It's so difficult to say goodbye, but worth every second of seeing them.

Today I wanted to share Color Club's Covered in Diamonds. It's tons of large, iridescent flakes in a clear base. It reminds me of stained glass on the nail. The only thing with this polish, is that the flakes are so large they can curl up and stick up off of your nail. It takes about two top coats to smooth everything out... probably a top coat of gelous would be good, but I only used Seche Vite. I have Nubar's Pasadena Purple on underneath, and I really need to do a post of that color on its own. It's gorgeous! But as you can see I have some tip wear, so I really want to give the color the proper credit it deserves.

I have a ton of swatching to do, so stay tuned, and as always, thanks for reading! :)

Octa-Gone-Wild Thursday!

2011-07-14T07:15:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! Last night I was packing for my weekend trip back to Jersey, for my Nana's 80th Birthday, and was trying to think of what polish to use to kick off my trip. I scoured my polish racks and picked a few up to pack - Essie 'Nice is Nice', and Orly 'Flirty', and China Glaze 'Pool Party', and then my eyes ran across it - the perfect polish to start my trip! (That totally reminded me of SNL Cheerleaders with Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri - THE PERFECT CHEER!) Anyway, on went China Glaze's 'Octa-Gone-Wild' from the Kaleidoscope Collection. It's purple and holographic and I can't think of too many things better than that! It was like 11:30 last night so I didn't have any sun to capture the beauty, so here are some pics form my phone that do even do it justice, but give a hint at the glorious-ness of it all.

I am leaving today, so my weekend starts in a couple of hours! I hope everyone has a great one!!! :)

Pink Wednesday!

2011-07-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! Today is Pink Wednesday and I have a really pretty pink to share! It's 'Flirty' from the Orly 'Happy Go Lucky' Collection and I love it! It's a bright, hot pink with a shimmer. I am such a sucker for colors like these! Here is two coats!:

Thanks for reading! :)

It's My Year!

2011-07-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Today is a continuation of yesterday's post. Here is OPI's 'It's My Year" on my nails, instead of the nail wheel! I like this color, I just wish it wasn't so close to the other two I have! None the less, the formula is pretty good and covers in two coats. So... here you go!

Dupes/Comparison

2011-07-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Real quick - - Yesterday I purchased the new OPI Miss Universe Collection. I put on 'It's My Year', and immediately I was like, not ANOTHER Zoya Faye!! We all know that Zoya 'Faye' and OPI 'Rally Pretty Pink' (from one of the Serena Duos) are dupes, but a third? And from OPI again? I had to see if I was right! Here are the bottles:

They all look pretty similar! 'It's My Year' is a has a touch more plum color. Here are the colors on a nail wheel:

While 'It's My Year' is not an EXACT duplicate of the other two, it's still pretty darn close. Of the three, 'It's My Year' is my personal favorite, just because it's a touch more purple than the rest. But I don't think you need all of them. The only reason I can think that OPI put out two of (practically) the same color, is because 'Rally Pretty Pink' is only available in the duo, while you can purchase 'It's My Year' on its own. Anyway, hope this may have helped someone!

Orly Frisky

2011-07-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody! I can't believe the weekend is over already! They go by way too fast! I hope you all had a good one! Mine was awesome! Relaxed by the pool, a little polish shopping, and spent time with friends! Today is a color from Orly's new Happy Go Lucky collection. It's called 'Frisky' and is a really pretty teal color. Formula is great, and while I am not a huge fan of blues and greens, I really love this color!

Hope you all have a great week!!

Donate to a worthy cause!

2011-07-08T21:31:00.000-07:00

A beauty blogger on Youtube is making a donation to her local animal shelter. She is asking for everyone's help! It is really for such a good cause, and any extra you might be able to spare would be appreciated! She is having some really amazing, hard to find prizes as incentive to donate. Check out the information here!

Glitter Zebra!?

2011-07-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

Hi there! Happy Friday!! :) Today we walk on the wild side, with a zebra inspired mani. This was a lot of fun to do, and also very simple! Win, win! I used all China Glaze polishes for this look. I started with alternating 'White on White' and 'Naughty or Nice' [This color was substituted for a black polish because I didn't have one! But it works just fine for the effect in the end!]. Once that was dry, I added 'Black Mesh' crackle over the 'White on White', and 'Lightening Bolt' crackle over 'Naughty or Nice'. The cool thing about crackle is that it's different every time. Also, you have the ability to apply it in different directions which also effects the crackle pattern. For this look, I applied the crackle polish in a diagonal direction. But, you can apply it criss-cross, or straight up-and-down, or even sideways. It's fun to experiment with!

That was cool on its own, but a little sparkle makes everything better. I topped the whole look off with 'Shooting Stars', and there you have it, a glittering zebra!

Shooting Stars, Black Mesh, Lightening Bolt, White on White, Naughty or Nice

With added crackle

With glitter! :)

Thanks for reading!!

**Some products featured above were sent for review**

Essie Braziliant

2011-07-07T07:01:00.001-07:00

Hey Folks! I've heard orange is the color of this summer, and that Essie's Braziliant was the color to get! I finally picked one up, and it's BRIGHT! I am not a huge fan of oranges (well, I love the fruit, just not the color so much!) but I decided to give this one a try. Essie describes it as: "a hot orange with a touch of shimmer". This color is a true orange color that doesn't seem to lean too yellow, or too red. In the bottle, there is a definite pink sheen to it, but it doesn't really translate to the nail. The formula was a tad bit thick but some polish thinner would do the trick there. For the pictures below, I used 3 coats. Overall I like this color. I don't know how often I'll reach for it just because I prefer purples and pinks, but for a hot, summer's night out, this polish rocks!

Essie Braziliant

Pink-ish Wednesday

2011-07-06T07:03:00.002-07:00

Hi everybody!! I can't believe it's time for Pink Wednesday, yet again! Time is sure flying! Over the weekend I made a trip to 5 Below and saw they had a few new colors. My eyes immediately went to this color, called "Favorite Girl". It's a pinky-purple color that is so shiny and foil-y. It is opaque in two coats, and honestly, I was so impressed!! I want to try stamping with this color... if it works, I think it will make for some gorgeous stamps!!

Ooooo Look how pretty!!!

Funky Fingers: Favorite Girl

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!!

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200 Follower Giveaway!!!

2011-07-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Let me start out by saying THANK YOU EVERYONE! I can't believe how quickly my blog is growing. I really enjoy doing this and sharing my thoughts and pictures with you all. Thank you for your support and I hope to continue this nail polish journey with all of you!

So, let's get on to the goodies!

Rules:

1) You must be 18 years of age or older, or have your parents permission to enter and give out your address

2) You must be a public follower of my blog via GFC - new followers always welcome!

3) This is open to everyone around the world!

4) Please enter only once, and only for one of the two prizes! Not both!

5) This giveaway will close on Thursday, July 28, 2011 11:59 pm CST.

Gain extra entries by blogging about my giveaway and adding me to your blog roll!

Zoya Fall 2011 Collection!!

2011-07-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

fall 2011 nail color

smoke and mirrors

...beautiful illusions

Zoya Nail Polish presents 12 enticing and mysterious new colors for fall 2011.

Zoya Smoke Collection

Jana (ZP564) - smoky mauve quartz cream

Petra (ZP565) - smoky eggplant mauve cream

Codie (ZP566) - smoky brown taupe cream

Anja (ZP567) - smoky palatinate purple cream

Cynthia (ZP568) - smoky Prussian blue cream

Dree (ZP569) - smoky camouflage green cream

Zoya Mirrors Collection

Nimue (ZP570) - smoky rich thistle metallic

Marina (ZP571) - smoky steel blue metallic

Tao (ZP572) - smoky slate gray metallic

Yara (ZP573) - sparkly olive green metallic

Neeka (ZP574) - sparkly amethyst purple metallic

Jem (ZP575) - sparkly fandango pink metallic

Zoya is the new color of fashion... The new Zoya smoke & mirrors colors were designed for and inspired by top fashion designers and beauty icons.

Ultra long-wearing, glossy nail lacquers by Zoya are free of harmful industrial chemicals like toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, resin, dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.

Find Zoya smoke & mirrors as well as over 300 other high-fashion Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. As always, each and every Zoya color is made for beautiful women so we name them after beautiful women.

smoke & mirrors by Zoya - available July 15, 2011 (USA)

Sug. Retail $8.00 per 0.5 fl. oz. bottle (US)

100 Follower Giveaway Winners!

2011-07-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

Hi guys! Just a quick announcement on my winners!

Congratulations to HollyG222 and Helen England on winning prizes 1 and 2 respectively!! Both winners have been contacted and responded. Thank you to everyone for following my blog, from the bottom of my heart. I really appreciate you all coming on this nail polish journey with me. I have my 200 Follower Giveaway planned, and I promise I will post it soon!

Happy 4th Of July!!!

2011-07-04T08:28:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th, everyone!!! I am so thankful that I live in this great country and have the freedoms that were fought so hard to get. Today is my last day with Brooke and we will be hanging out at the pool celebrating. We'll be making guacamole and having drinks and wearing our Flag tees and showing off our patriotic nails. Here are mine :)

Those are fireworks on my thumb, by the way :)

Also, the giveaway winners have been picked! Just waiting on e-mail responses from the winners! 200 Follower Giveaway should go live tonight or tomorrow! :)

Hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th, and GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

My Giveaway!!

2011-07-03T18:33:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!!! Just wanted to let you know tonight is the last night to enter my 100 Follower Giveaway!!!

CLICK HERE!!!!

Also, stay tuned for my 200 Follower Giveaway... coming soon!!!!