Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Revlon Street Wear in Jelly and Groovy

 The shades I have in today's post are a bit more my style than yesterday's. Although, I'm still not overly thrilled with them. Maybe it's me. I seem to be in some kind of nail polish slump. New collections are just meh, and I have no desire to go out and buy them. I would usually go out of my way to pick up new collections, but lately I don't even feel the urge to look at swatches. I'm even contemplating a blog sale to downsize my collection. Crazy! I suppose it's just a phase I'm going through which hopefully subside sooner than later.

This is Jelly. It is a taupe polish with purple/blue shimmer, but the shimmer isn't visible under normal lighting. I used three coats.

This is with flash. I wish it looked like this 24/7.


Groovy is a clear base with holographic bar glitter and small, purple glitter. I loved this one, but that's just me being partial to bar glitter. If it has bar glitter, I am more likely than not to love it. I used one coat over two coats of OPI A Grape Fit!. Sorry about the flooding on my ring finger, I didn't notice it until today when I was reviewing the pics.

Here it is with no flash. A Grape Fit isn't as bright as it looks in the pics above, or blue for that matter. These pictures resemble the color better, but the color is still a bit off.


 I'm not sure what to think of my new Canon EOS Rebel T3. Most of the pics I take come out way off in color. I think my old Sony Cybershot takes better pics sometimes. Maybe it's just my lighting? I took some really awesome pics over the weekend at the aquarium and those are color accurate... Probably just user error. ^_^

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Revlon Street Wear in Exposed and Chick

 I don't know why I keep waiting to the end of the day to post. I'm tired and sleepy and really don't feel like typing. To top it off I just painted my nails. Why did I start a new mani knowing I had to go to sleep soon? I seem to be doing this more and more often. I NEED to be asleep by at least eight so I can get enough sleep. Oh well. C'est la vie! The polishes in today's post aren't really my thing. They are both frosts. I'm not a big fan of frosts because they do not hide brushstrokes well. It doesn't matter how hard you try there will always be some visible brushstrokes.

This is Exposed. It is a brown shimmery frost. I didn't like the color nor the finish so this is definitely going to my swap list. I used three coats for this one.


I'm on the fence on this one. I loved the color, but the frost finish is a deterrent for me. I liked that it dried to a satin finish, but it's still a frost. This one took four coats.


 All photos were taken with no flash. I really thought I was going to like the Street Wears more than I do, but I also don't have any of the really good ones like Toad or October 31st. Those are amazing and are incredibly hard to come across. I do have high hopes for Burnt and Dijon though. I love those fugly colors. ^_^

Monday, January 23, 2012

Revlon Street Wear in Charming

 I have a few Street Wears that I have accumulated over the past few weeks, so I thought I would swatch them all to get them out of my untrieds. All week I will be posting two of them daily, except for today. I only have Charming for you today. It's a slightly blue/purple duochrome base with tons of silver glitter.

This is four coat of Charming with no top coat. I initially thought it would be grainy with all the silver glitter, but it's actually quite smooth and glossy on it's own.



 I was able to get this polish of a polishsale that theasiangirl was having and it was only $5! To me that's cheap considering these aren't made anymore. I loved the color and finish of the polish, but I just wished the duochrome was a bit more visible on the nail. ^_^

Friday, January 20, 2012

China Glaze Live in Colour Contest on Facebook

 I thought if you guys didn't know about this, you should! First prize gets THREE upcoming China Glaze collections. Umm.. yea 'nuff said. All you have to do is come up with a short story or poem with six China Glaze nail lacquer name and it has to be less than 200 words. You can find all the details here: http://www.facebook.com/chinaglazeofficial?sk=app_111722095615980. It really isn't hard to come up with something quick and you never know! You just might be the lucky winner. They have three prizes, so even if you get third place that would be amazing. You know 'cuz it's FREEEEEEE! Haha.

This is the poem I did, hope it get's accepted since it does seem a bit racy lol. If it doesn't then oh well. I still had fun writing it.

Kaleidoscope Love

Our love is Rated Holographic, but if loving you was a crime would you go Visit Me In Prism? Come on Don't Be A Square. I promise I can make you Octa-Gone Wild. Just look at my heart, He's Going In Circles. Waiting for you to Spin Me Round and Tickle My Triangle. So, How About A Tumble? It's My Turn to take hold of your heart and Kaleidoscope Him Out until you say you love me too. Let's get started with this Sexagon and Let's Do It In 3d.

Dior Waterlily w/ Lynnderella Snow Angel

 I had another post planned today, but all day I have been thinking of layering Snow Angel over Dior Waterlily and that was the first thing I did when I walked into my house. Ok, maybe not the first thing, but you get my drift. I wasn't sure how it would turn out because I haven't tried layering Snow Angel over any other color except white, so it was sort of an experiment when I began. I had thought of maybe doing Connect the Dots, but I'm sure you guys are tired of me posting on that polish! Anyways, my experiment proved successful! I was extremely pleased to see how nice both colors looked together once I started layering. I'll admit it now, but I've been slacking and posting over on MUA ever since I got home. I tell you that because I posted this combo over there and 'laurenli' said it looked like 'snowy spring'. Her description was spot on! It really does look like grass that is starting to sprout, yet still has snow surrounding it.

snow-grass 2.jpg provided by DeTerra's Landscape Design Dartmouth 02747



With Flash.


 Loved, loved this combo. I think I'll be posting Lynnderella's with more frequency because I still have quite a few that are untried. ^_^

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Dior Waterlily

 So, this is me giving a brand I want to love a second chance. I was pretty sure I wouldn't but anymore Dior polishes, but I just had to pick up this amazing shade from their spring collection. It's a minty shimmery polish, and the really special thing about is that it's scented! Yes, I know there are many scented polishes nowadays. The reason why it's special to me is because it is supposed to be rose scented. If there was one thing that I could smell 24/7, it would definitely be the smell of rose petals. Weird? Maybe, just a tad.

 I wore the polish for a few hours now and it really does smell like rose petals! It actually took my surprise because when I was first applying the polish it had a different scent to it. It smelled like a lighter version of Nivea lotion, but then that went away and it just smelled like potpourri. I wasn't thrilled with that at all and was a bit bummed, but then as I was washing my face I caught the scent of fresh rose petals! I think that it was probably just too strong of a scent at the beginning and as the hours passed the scent became muted.

All these pictures were taken with flash and I used three coats of Waterlily with one coat of NYC Grand Central Station. The formula was better on this one, but it still was a bit thick. I had to work fast, although not crazy fast like with Tuxedo. The one thing that was bad was the bit of bubbling that came out from time to time. I think Dior polishes just take a bit more work than other polishes, and I guess I am willing to take the extra work because I love the colors I have so far.






Here is a picture without flash just for kicks.

 The brush still bugged me, but the formula was A LOT better on this one. The scent was amazing at least for me, so much that I now want to pick up the other shade in the spring collection. ^_^

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Skin Food BR611 w/ Lynnderella Change

 Now that Lynnderella has announced that she will be having a sale, I'm sure a lot of you are starting to look up swatches to narrow down your choices. Well, I have a pretty amazing one to show you guys today. I originally received this polish as an extra during Lynnderella's first sale, but never posted it's actual name because I didn't know what it was called. Lynnderella later told me that the name of the polish was Change, and I never got around to updating my post. I originally swatched it over Orly Luxe and while I loved that combo, I knew this polish had much better potential. That potential was reached for me when I received this Skin Food polish that I bought from a fellow polish lover. I didn't really even want this polish, but she was offering six polishes for $20 and who can resist a deal like that?? As soon as I took it out I knew I had to layer Change over it.


I just got around to doing that combo tonight and it was a layering success! I used three coats of Skin Food BR611. This is a dark chocolatey polish with so much shimmer that it applies as if it was a frost finish. It really showed the brush strokes on the first and second coats, but since the color is so dark the strokes were hardly visible on the third coat.



On to the only reason you probably even clicked on this post! This is one coat of Lynnderella Change over Skin Food BR611. I loved this combination because the chocolatey polish keeps the warm tones found in Change, yet it brings out in the shimmer in the base because it's a dark polish. 



 I am anxiously awaiting for Lynnderella to go live with her first sale of the year, since I have some catching up to do on her previous collection and her new collection is... Well, why don't you just take a look for yourself? http://lynnderella-lynnderella.blogspot.com/ ^_^

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Brucci Heavenly Julia w/ Pure Ice Busted

 I have already mentioned my love for Brucci's formula a few times, and this polish is no exception. The only thing is that Jenni Lee over at http://irelishnailpolish.blogspot.com/ brought to light something that I had never even considered when purchasing nail polish. Is it tested on animals?? That's something that I never think twice of when buying anything, actually. I haven't done any research on the company yet, but it has made me think twice now when I'm in a store looking at cosmetics. So, I thank you for that Jenni Lee! Lol and I mean that in a good way. It really isn't difficult at all to take a few seconds to look for that cruelty free symbol, which is usually a cute little rabbit on the back or bottom of the packaging.

This is Heavenly Julia and it was a one coater. Amazing, yup. I'm always amazed with one coaters, but before you purchase it, you might want to look into making sure that they are a cruelty free brand. Sorry, I didn't do my homework in advance! =(


 


Here it is with one coat of Pure Ice Busted! This polish was sent to my by Eileen over at http://sneakerette.blogspot.com/. Once again, thanks! This polish is truly magical!



 Ok, now I have to go... I told my kids they had 30 minutes to play before I put them to bed. It's been 10 minutes and they already want to go to bed. What kids WANT to go to bed??? They're just a couple of weirdos! ^_^

Monday, January 16, 2012

Sally Hansen Pacific Blue w/ Stamping

 I hadn't originally planned to stamp over this polish, but I have become quite addicted to stamping. I actually even ordered some more plates and I'm very excited to get to use those. Pacific Blue is one the most gorgeous blues I have ever seen. It's my favorite blue polish that I own, but I hardly wear it because it stains really, really bad. I always end up with smurf fingers at the time of removal. However, I just recently started wearing CND Stickey as a basecoat and can I just say WOW? CND Stickey is the best basecoat I have tried so far. My nails had no staining whatsoever once I took off my polish. That's right. No smurf fingers!

I used two coats of Pacific Blue and stamped with Wet n' Wild Black Creme using Red Angel plate RA - 113.




 This is my favorite stamping mani I have done so far, even though it was far from perfect. I was using the stamper wrong by starting in the middle. The way I was doing it is only good for perhaps smaller images. For full images it is best to start on one side then end on the other. For great stamping tips and ideas you should visit http://www.youtube.com/user/soguesswhat11. She really is awesome with the stamper and loved watching her videos even before I owned any plates. ^_^

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Deborah Lippmann Juicy Couture Metals: Believe, Jewel In the Crown and Here Comes the Queen

 Today is the last day of Deborah Lippmann week and these are the last of Deborah Lippmann polishes that I will post, for awhile at least. I bought this set on Juicy Couture's website for a little under $17 shipped last year. The bottles were what caught my attention and I couldn't resist the cute tops especially since they were on sale. The set includes two Juicy Couture exclusives and one other polish from Deborah's core line. Here Comes the Queen and Jewel In the Crown are the exclusives and believe is part of the core line for Deborah Lippmann's polishes.



This is Jewel In the Crown. It's pretty much just a grey pearly color. To me it isn't anything special, but I was impressed with the formula. It only took one coat to get complete coverage.



I thought it would look a but better with Here Comes the Queen, but it only makes it look like a washed out grey with bits of gold.



My favorite one out of all three is Believe. It's a pearly white and gold foil, but it mostly looks white to me. I liked the look of this one so much that I just had to wear it after I finished swatching. I used two coats for this one with no topcoat.



I topped it off with Here Comes the Queen, but once again it just changed the color of the polish. Believe seems more like a light gold foil now.



Here Comes the Queen piqued my attention as soon as I saw that it was a gold flakie. I just wasn't happy with it though. I didn't like it layered nor on it's own, but maybe it was just the layering combos that I didn't like. I'll have to try it over a navy or even burgundy polish later. I used three coats on it for the pictures below.



 The only polish that I think is worth getting is Believe. I don't have any foils that come close to it. Other than that, I really think this set was a bust. At least I didn't pay full price for it. ^_^